Every Rose Has It's Thorns
by 13Aphrodite
Summary: Rose Weasley longs to be different from the rest of her family, and she thinks she's accomplished this when she is sorted into Slytherin. But after befriending Emily Goyle, being central in a plot by none other than Lucius Malfoy, and becoming more than friends with none other than Scorpius Malfoy, things could get complicated... ScorpiusXRose
1. Year 1

Disclaimer: Although I use a few lines from the Deathly Hallows in this chapter, I don't own anything in the Harry Potter universe.

Chapter 1

**First Year**

"If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you," Ron said, leaning down to look right into Rose's eyes that were growing wide with fear. "But no pressure."

"For goodness sakes Ron!" Her mom cried, putting her hands on her hips. She turned to look at Rose. "We'll be proud of you no matter what house you're in."

Relief flooded her face, and she began to smile again. Although she would never say it to her parents, she didn't want to be in Gryffindor. Her whole family was, and for once in her life she wanted to stand out and be different.

Her brand new jet black owl, Sidian, sat nicely in his cage and she could feel the wright of her wand in her brand new robes. The wand had been tucked in the very back of the shop, but it was hers; cherry wood with a phoenix feather core. It was perfect.

James ran up to Her Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, interrupting whatever they were saying to Lily. "Teddy is _snogging _Victoire! Our Teddy!"

Everyone started laughing, as Ginny scolded James for interrupting them. "You are so much like Ron…"

Suddenly Ron's face went hard. "Look who it is."

Rose turned to see who her father could be staring at with such contempt. Her eyes found a family of three, standing at the edge of the platform; not many people were coming near them.

The father had pale skin, and blonde hair, where as his wife had black hair but the same pale skin. Although he seemed on edge, her eye sparkled with happiness and warmth. She smiled at everyone passing by, and began talking to her son.

It was the son that really caught Rose's eye. He looked like a miniature version of his father, but he had his mother's same sparkling eyes, and warm smile.

He looked so alone.

"Who are they daddy?" She whispered into her father's ear.

"Draco Malfoy, and his wife and his son. He said tartly, and then looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. "Make sure you beat him in every test Rosie, and feel free to duel, but not until you know how!"

"Honestly Ron!" Hermione cried, glaring at him.

"I'm just encouraging her to…"

"I'm going to go say hi." Rose interrupted, turning on her heel and walking towards Scorpius and his family.

"Rose! Wait!" Ron called from behind her, attempting to follow her through the bustling crowd.

She approached the Malfoys and thrust out her hand towards Draco first. "I'm Rose Weasly,"

A look of shock crossed Draco's face, but he grabbed her hand.

"I'm Draco Malfoy,"

She moved her hand towards the mother, who grasped her hand eagerly with both hands, giving her a huge smile. "Astoria Malfoy,"

Finally, she looked at Scorpius, who grabbed her hand and gave her a timid smile. "I'm Scorpius."

"This is your first year too then?" She questioned, trying to make light conversation.

"Yah, is it yours?"

"Yup," She pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "What house do you want to be sorted into?"

"Slytherin is what my family has been in…"

"Rose!" Ron pushed through the crowd, Hugo in tow, and grasped her shoulder gently. "Don't run off on us again!"

Neither of the men made any attempt to move forward.

"Don't be so rude Ron!" Hermione hissed as Astoria hissed something at Draco. Hermione stepped forward and offered her hand to Astoria.

"I'm Hermione Weasly, Rose and Hugo's mom." She smiled.

"Astoria Malfoy, Scorpius's mom." Astoria grinned back and shook her hand. "And you probably already know Draco.'

"Yes I do, good to see you Draco. This is Hugo," she turned and pointed over to Hugo, who was standing timidly behind Ron. "And that's Ron."

Astoria, Hermione, Rose and Scorpius turned to look at Ron and Draco, who were engaged in some sort of test-of-manhood glaring contest.

"Malfoy,"

"Weasly"

All four of them rolled their eyes as an awkward silence settled over them.

"Would you like to sit with me on the train?" Rose asked Scorpius, breaking the silence.

"Sure!" Scorpius answered. And the Malfoys and the Weaslys began making their way towards the train.

Ron hoisted her stuff on the train, and turned to Rose. "I love you Rosie, but if you marry a pureblood granddad Weasly will never forgive you." He laughed, and then pulled him into a hug. "I really love you Rosie."

Tears started to form in Rose's eyes, as the realization that she was leaving hit her. "Will you write to me mommy and daddy?"

"Every week Rosie." Hermione answered with a smile.

"I love you guys."

"I love you so much Rosie," Her mom pulled her into a tight hug, then released her so Rose could walk over to Hugo.

"Bye Hugo," She wiped the tears out of her eyes, and gave him a hug.

"I want to go to Hogwarts." He whispered, starting to tear up a bit.

"I'll write to you every week and tell you what it's like." She whispered, stepping away to board the train.

"Bye!" she yelled and climbed aboard.

Scorpius met up with her in the hallway, and they began to search for a compartment.

Soon they found Rose's cousins, Dominique, Molly, Roxanne and Victoire all sitting in a compartment talking animatedly about something. They all waved her and Scorpius in.

"Who's this Rosie?" Victoire asked, motioning for her and Scorpius to sit next to her.

"This is Scorpius Malfoy," she stated, and Scorpius blushed just a tad.

A look of shock seemed to cross the faces of her cousins at the mention of the name "Malfoy", but Victoire seemed to banish the prejudiced thought quickly. The past was the past.

"Nice to meet you Scorpius." Victoire smiled warmly.

"Cool hair, "Roxanne complimented, seeming like she couldn't think of anything better to say.

"Are the ickle firsties excited for their first week at Hogwarts?" Dominique teased, elbowing Rose.

"You are insufferable, Dom!" Roxanne exclaimed, but she had a huge smile on her face.

Finally Scorpius spoke up, "You girls are all in Gryffindor, right?"

"Yes," Victoire said, "Except Molly who's in Hufflepuff."

"All alone," Roxanne said, shaking her head in mock sadness.

Rose rolled her eyes and turned to Molly, "Any helpful pointers for me and Scorpius?"

Molly was just about to speak when Dominique, Victoire and Roxanne cut in.

"Don't get on McGonagall's bad side; you'll have a miserable year."

"Talk to me and Vic to find out which parties are worth going to."

"Just stay out of Peeves' way."

"Speak up in Slughorn's class, but only if you have the right answer."

"And make as little enemies as possible." Molly finally cut in, glaring at Rose and Dominique.

"Unless their enemies of a sibling or cousin then hex them into oblivion." Dominique smiled deviously.

They met up with the boys as they left the train.

"Where are you going?" Rose cried as the rest of her cousins turned to walk away from her and Scorpius.

"You guys are taking the boats!" Molly yelled behind her.

"Just make sure you don't get eaten by the giant squid!" James yelled back at them.

"Squid?" Rose yelled, stopping in her tracks as Albus came up behind her.

"Albus!" She exclaimed, giving him a hug despite his slightly embarrassed face. "This is Scorpius. Scorpius, this is my cousin Albus."

"Firs' years! Firs' years!" Hagrid was yelling, and they began to follow his voice through the crowds of students heading towards the carriages

"Hi Hagrid!" Rose said as she came up beside him, Albus and Scorpius right behind her.

"Rose!" Hagrid said, "Albus! And who 'ave you got with you?"

"This is Scorpius," Rose said, glancing at the lake with fear. Giant squid?

"Hagrid," She whispered, "Is there really a giant squid in the lake?"

"Yes there is, but he's harmless really." He smiled, and waved them on towards the boat. "Say hi to Harry, Ron and Hermione for me! And come by the hut some time!"

"Yes Hagrid!" Albus and Rose called back, and the three of them got into the boats.

The great hall was bustling with people, and Rose, Albus and Scorpius felt many eyes on them as they walked down the middle of the tables towards the sorting hat. Everyone fell silent as Headmistress McGonagall began calling out names.

It seemed to go by in a blur as the three of them sat anxiously.

"Finnigan, Emily!"

A blonde girl, nearly shaking with nerves walked up and sat on the stool. The hat had barely touched her head before it shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"

It seemed like there were thousands of people before them, until McGonagall called "Malfoy, Scorpius!" He stole a nervous glance at Rose and Albus, and then made his way up to the front.

He sat down, and the headmistress set the hat on his head. It sat there for a few moments before it belted out "SLYTHERIN!" A small smile crossed Scorpius' face as he went to sit down with his cheering house.

"Potter, Albus!"

Albus stumbled up to the front, and the hat was set on his head…

"GRYFFINDOR!"

A huge smile crossed his face as he sat with the other Weaslys and Potters amongst cheering Gryffindors.

Rose sat there, alone, as the people slowly dwindled and got sorted into their houses. Both of the Scamander boys were sorted into Ravenclaw, and Mackenzie Thomas was sorted into Hufflepuff.

After a while she glanced around and realized she was the only one left.

"Weasly, Rose!"

She made her way up to the front, feeling all eyes on her, and sat down on the stool. The sorting hat slid over her eyes…

_Where to put you, where to put you… Brave, but not a bad mind either and quite a heart too. But I sense a strong thirst to prove yourself. _

_I sense a want to be separate from the rest of your family, as well as strength, cunning… It'd better be…_

"SLYTHERIN!"

Rose stood up, a grin dancing across her face as the Slytherin table cheered. She saw her cousin's shocked faces at the Gryffindor table. No Weasly had ever been in Slytherin!

She sat down next to Scorpius, who gave her a broad smile, and the people around him began introducing themselves to her.

This was going to be a great year, she could already tell.

She was unique already.


	2. Years 2 and 3

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Harry Potter universe.

**Year 2**

"Shut up Scorp!" Rose laughed, smacking his arm playfully.

"I only said that Gryffindor Ashley Hastting walks like she has something up her butt!" Scorp mumbled, attempting to keep the chicken he was chewing in his mouth.

"Just because it's true doesn't mean you point it out!" Rose kept laughing, not succeeding at stopping the laughing fit.

"C'mon Rose, we're snakes! Everyone expects us to be mean!" He chuckled, shoving more food in his mouth.

"Whatever," She sighed, finally quenching the laughter and turning to one of her other friends, Emily Goyle.

"He's a real jerk, you know that?" She teased, pointing at Scorpius, who was putting on a mock hurt face.

"So you ready to smash Gryffindor in Quidditch today!" Scorpius suddenly exclaimed, obviously wanting to change the subject.

"Heck yah!" Emily yelled, smacking him and Rose a high five.

"I wish we were actually on the team," Rose sighed, resting her chin on her hands.

"Oh come on Rose! You're the top of the class already, like you seriously need another extracurricular activity to prove how much better you are than everyone!" Emily exclaimed. Scorpius threw up his hands in agreement.

"You guys are helpless," Rose sighed, gathering her stuff and walking out of the great hall. "I'm off to potions!"

"I'll be there as late as possible," Scorpius sighed, as Rose rushed out of the room.

"That's Felix Felicis." Rose answered, "You can tell by the golden colour."

"Very good Ms. Weasly," Slughorn smiled, "Ten points for Slytherin,"

"Know it all," She heard someone mutter behind her, but she promptly ignored it.

"Stupid snake thinks she's all that," Someone else whispered, eliciting snickers from surrounding Gryffindors.

Rose felt tears stinging the corners of her eyes, but she pushed them back. There was no way she was going to cry just because of a bunch of lousy Gryffindors.

The seconds slowly ticked by, and the snickering got worse every time she answered a question. Rose began to wish she had the time turner her mom had in third year. Too bad they didn't give them out anymore.

By the time the class ended, Rose felt close to tears. She gathered her books and almost ran out of class, flanked by Emily and Scorpius. As she struggled to get through the crowd, a foot shot out in front of her and her, and all her books crashed to the floor.

"Know it all snake," One of the Gryffindors sneered, and she looked up into their faces. Bethany Finnigan was in front, flanked by some Gryffindor and _James._ James looked at her apologetically, but didn't make a motion to stop Beth. Kicking one of her books and whirling around to face James in the same motion.

She grabbed his hand and _kissed _him, then grabbed his hand and walked away, James not making any motion to help her.

She wiped the tears out of her eyes and stood up, proud and strong, a determined look crossing her face. Scorpius and Emily passed her the books and Scorpius looked at her, gently touching her arm.

"Are you okay?" He whispered, looking at her with piercing blue eyes.

"Never better," She said fiercely, linking her arms in Molly's and Scorpius's and walking away.

They wanted a know it all snake? Well that's what they were going to get.

**Year 3**

"Watch it with the dye!" Rose exclaimed, stripping off her Hogwarts robe and draping a towel over her shoulders. "The last thing I want is it all over my stuff!"

"Sorry!" Emily giggled as Kristin Zabini passed her a pair of rubber gloves.

"I seriously can't believe you're doing this!" Kristin exclaimed, "Your dad is going to KILL you!"

"Oh my gosh you guys!" Scorpius threw down his text book, with an exasperated look on his face. "It's JUST hair! It's not like she's sneaking dark objects into the castle or something."

"You guys are such… Girls!" Jace Parkinson sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"Gosh, I never noticed." Rose said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well, I was wondering why I had bras in my trunk!" Emily exclaimed mockingly and began massaging the black hair dye into Rose's hair.

Rose felt a knot twist in her stomach. What WAS her dad going to say? He would be furious… Not that she cared or anything. It was just hair, right?

It seemed like it took Emily forever to finish putting all the dye into her hair. However, slowly but surely Emily poured the last of the dye into her hair, and began putting purple streaks into it. The nervousness began to subside and Rose began to feel excited as she leaned over the edge of the tub to wash it out.

She was never going to be just another Weasly again.

The last of the dye left her hair, and she quickly towel dried it, eager to get a look. She was just about to look in the mirror when she felt Scorpius's rough hands cover her eyes.

"I know you're going to kill me for this," He whispered into her ear, "But the girls want to dry it and everything before you actually see it, and none of them were brave enough to try and stick a blind fold on you."

"Come on Scorp!" Rose whined, struggling to pull his hands away, "I want to see it!"

She felt something being tied over her face. "Just a few more minutes Rosie!" He called as she felt the heat of the hair dryer on the back of her neck.

"Sorry Rose!" Emily called over the noise of the dryer, "But you'll thank me later!"

"I'm going to kill you Em!"

As soon as she felt her hair was dry, she felt Scorpius's hands against her face as he untied the blindfold. "Holy crap Rose, no one will recognize you!"

"Ha ha ha," She said sarcastically, and the blindfold was pulled back from her face.

"Oh. My. Gosh." She gasped, her mouth dropping open. No one _would _recognize her! She barely recognized herself! There was no trace of her signature Weasly-red locks left, but the black looked spectacular! It made her green eyes pop, and the purple looked beautiful with her Slytherin-green robes. It was amazingly bad-ass, it was beautiful, and it was completely and absolutely perfect.

It set her aside from the rest of her family and made her feel unique, and different. No longer was she just another Weasly, she was _Rose_, the only Weasly in Slytherin, and now the only Weasly without bright red hair.

"You look amazing Rose!" Emily cried, seeming to almost jump up and down with excitement.

"Absolutely stunning!" Kristin said, passing Rose her robes, and her green striped tie.

"Holy crap," Jace said, and Kristin smacked him with the dye bottle. "Shut up you stupid snake!"

"Watch the robes! I need my Slytherin green! It's my pride and joy!" He yelled, and everyone collapsed into a fit of laughter. She had to admit, being a "stupid snake" must be a lot more fun than a stuck-up Gryffindor.

"Well," Rose finally spoke, a huge grin across her face, "Let's go down to dinner."

Shock wouldn't even begin to cover the look on people's faces as Rose walked down the hallway. She almost started giggling as people started to do double-takes, trying to figure out who the black and purple haired girl walking with Scorpius Malfoy was.

Kristin, Jace and Emily walked ahead, obviously not happy about Rose's pace.

"We're starving!" Kristin yelled back, "We're going on ahead!"

"Whatever!" Scorpius yelled, and he and Rose kept walking.

"Rose?" Rose and Scorpius stopped as she heard someone yell her name from behind them.

Roxanne, Molly and Dominique walked up behind her, with looks of pure disbelief on their faces.

"What did you do?" Dominique cried, gentling touching a purple streak in Rose's hair.

Rose rolled her eyes. She had dyed her _hair_; it wasn't like she had got branded with the dark mark or something.

"I just dyed it," She responded, clearly annoyed.

"Uncle Ron is going to _kill_ you!" Molly said, looking at her worriedly.

"Is this some immature attempt at rebellion?" Roxanne scolded her hands on her hips.

"Oh my gosh!" Rose finally cried with a wave of her hands, "It's just hair dye! Now would you give it a rest? I'm not nine years old anymore!" She stomped off, fury bubbling inside her.

"Why do they treat me like I'm such a baby?" She vented to Scorpius, "All I did was dye my hair, and everyone's acting like I'm some freaking death eater now!"

"Rose," Scorpius said, grabbing her hand and gently leading her into a small hallway off the main hall.

"Rose," he continued quietly, looking straight into her eyes. "They just aren't used to seeing you grow up; they're still trying to hang on to their 'Rosie'"

"I know, but it's just so frustrating! And dad really is going to kill me about this…" Scorpius looked into her eyes and saw tears welling up as rose hastily looked at her shoes.

"Rose, you have to make your own decisions! You can't just do what everyone else wants you to do, you weren't meant to! The Sorting hat proved that when it put you in Slytherin."

"I know it's just…" And his mouth was on hers.

She couldn't even think, and she didn't try to pull away. It just felt so _good._

Scorpius was finally the one to pull back. "I never got to tell you that you look really beautiful." He whispered, and then they heard footsteps.

"We should get to dinner," Rose whispered, staring into his piercing blue eyes.

"Probably," Scorpius smiled his beautiful, charming, stunning smile at her.

They walked in silence to the great hall, both deep in thought.

She wasn't going to ruin their friendship. Once you went down the "boyfriend-girlfriend path" there was no going back; but it had felt so _right_.

By the time they reached the Great Hall she had made up her mind. That kiss had never happened, and she was just going to act like that was true. It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, and it hadn't really been a huge deal to either of them…

Had it?

**AN: **So there you have it, chapter two! I'm going to skim through years 1-5 like I have been doing (Year 4 and 5 will be combined in the next chapter) and then year 6 is where it actually starts to get interesting! Please review, your feedback means a lot to me.

**This Chapter's Playlist:**

Just a Kiss – Lady Antebellum

Perfect – Hedley

Who Says – Selena Gomez


	3. Years 4 and 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

**Year 4**

"Excuse me? You want to go to the MALFOY'S house for Christmas Eve dinner?" Ron exclaimed as Rose twirled her purple streaked hair around her finger.

"Oh my gosh dad! I'm going for _dinner_, it's not like we're eloping or something!" Rose said sarcastically, "Mom said it's okay!"

"Rosie, you always have dinner with us Christmas eve…"

"Stop calling me Rosie!" She finally snapped. "I'm turning fifteen dad, and I've had enough of that stupid nickname!"

"Rose!" Her mother finally stepped in, "Don't talk to your father like that!"

"You are not going to the Malfoy's for Christmas eve!" Her dad yelled, fury showing in his eyes.

"Well you need to get over your stupid prejudices!" She screeched back.

"He's not a good friend for you Rose! HE's a bad influence, just look at your hair!"

"I don't freaking care what you think! I was just tired of being a stupid Weasly!"

"You are not going!" Ron finally yelled, storming out of the room.

"You try and stop me!" Rose screeched, and dashed over to the fire place, grabbing a handful of floo powder.

"Malfoy Manor!" She screamed as she threw the floo powder into the fire place.

"Rose Nymphadora Weasly!" She heard her father call after her as the green flames engulfed her.

She stumbled out of a fire place in a pristine white hall in Malfoy Manor, covered in ashes. Looking around and attempting to figure out where to go from here.

Had she seriously just taken off from her dad? She was going to be in so much crap…

"Rose Weasly?" She heard a shocked voice question from down the hall. She looked up, desperately hoping for Scorpius…

But it was Draco Malfoy.

"Ummm," she stuttered; what do you say when you show up in your friend's house covered in ashes?

"Hello Mr. Malfoy," She continued, dusting herself off. "Where's Scorpius?"

"Upstairs in the library with his mother, I'll show you if you'd like." He responded instantly, a look of shock still on his face.

"Thanks,"

They walked in awkward silence, Rose twiddling with her thumbs, thinking of something to say.

"That's beautiful," She finally said, stopping in front of a mural across the hallway.

It was a collection of faces, lots of faces. She was about to continue walking when something caught her eye.

"That's Teddy's dad," She whispered, gently touching the face on the picture.

"Remus Lupin," Draco said quietly, his voice sounding like his mind was elsewhere. "And his wife, Nymphadora."

Rose continued looking at the rest of the mural. She saw the faces of Fred Weasly, Severus Snape, Vincent Crabbe, Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black and numerous other casualties in the battle against the Dark Lord.

"It's a memorial," Rose whispered to herself, but Draco heard her.

"Yes, to commemorate those who died fighting on the right side," He answered a look of sadness crossing his face.

"Anyways," He continued, his eyes snapping away from the mural, "The library is right up this way."

They approached large wooden double doors, and Draco stepped forward to open them.

"Thank you," Rose said graciously, and entered the room.

The library was nearly as big as the Hogwarts library and she wondered how on Earth a mansion this big could still be considered a house.

"Scorpius, there's someone here to see you." Draco coughed.

"Rose? I thought you weren't coming until Christmas Eve!" Scorpius exclaimed, jumping up from what he was reading and pulling Rose into a hug.

"Hey Scorp," She whispered, "Long story on why I'm here early… Tell you later."

"Got it," He whispered back, "Mom and dad I'm going to show Rose up to my bedroom."

"Okay Scorpius," Astoria smiled, and they left the room.

"Trouble at the Weasly house?" Scorpius smiled his charming, devilish smile, just like when he had kissed her last year…

But she wasn't going to think about that.

"You have no idea," Rose sighed, and told him of the fight between her and her dad.

"So you just took off? That's bloody brilliant!" He exclaimed as they walked into his room.

"I thought so too, until I thought about how I do have to go home eventually." She sighed, flopping down on the bed. "Nice room."

"Thanks," He smiled again.

The entire room was done in Slytherin green and silver, right down to the rug on the floor. Even the bed was done in a beautiful silver iron.

"You could always spend the night here," He offered, "Give your dad a chance to cool down a bit so you won't get in as much crap."

"I'll still get in crap, but I think I'll take you up on that." She said cheerfully, "Do you think your parents would mind?"

"No," He scoffed, "We have like ten guest bedrooms just on this floor, and my grandparents keep to themselves upstairs."

"Okay then," she turned to Scorpius and pulling him into a hug. "Thank you."

Rose awoke the next morning surrounded by feather soft blankets and confused about where she was.

In an instant, it all came flooding back; the fight with her father, taking off to the Malfoy's and them letting her stay the night there.

She was going to be in so much trouble.

_Knock knock knock._

"One moment!" She called, jumping out of bed and pulling on the clothes Astoria had given her.

The tank top and shorts actually didn't fit too bad, but her hair was an absolute mess so she quickly pulled it back in a loose braid.

"It's just me! Mom wanted me to tell you to come downstairs for breakfast." He called through the door.

"Coming!" she yelled, throwing on her flip flops and opening the door.

"Ready my lady?" He asked mockingly, holding out his arm.

"Absolutely my brave knight," She laughed, linking her arm through his. They both continued laughing until they reached the dining hall downstairs.

Rose sat down, smiling at Draco and Astoria, "Thank you for everything Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy."

"Anytime Rose, and please call me Astoria." Astoria smiled warmly, passing down a plate of bacon and eggs.

_Knock knock knock._

"I'll get it," Astoria stepped up from the table and walked towards the large front door.

"Is Rose here?" She heard the unmistakable voice of her father.

"Oh crap," She whined, pushing back from the table. "Thanks so much Scorp, I'll try to be here Christmas Eve."

"Bye Rose."

Rose walked down the hall, bracing herself for what was to come. She walked up to her father without saying a word.

"Thanks Astoria," She smiled, and walked out the door.

Silently, her father took her arm, and she felt the feeling of being squeezed through a tube of darkness as they apparated home.

They walked through the front door, still giving each other the silent treatment and Rose was instantly crushed by her mother's hug.

"We were so worried Rose! Don't you ever do that again!" She cried.

"What were you thinking?" Her father whispered, turning to face her. "Taking off to the Malfoy's? I thought you had a better head on your shoulders than to do something stupid and rebellious like that!" His voice started rising.

"I only wanted to go there on Christmas eve, and you freaked out on me!" She cried, tears brimming her eyes. Why was everything her fault?

"Fine," Ron said, running his hand back through his hair with a sigh.

"What?"

"You can go on Christmas eve, just don't do anything like that again." He pulled her into a hug. "I was so worried,"

"I'm sorry,"

**Year 5**

"Take that Gryffindor!" Rose cheered as the Quidditch team carried her into the common room. She was met by the cheers of almost the entire Slytherin house.

"Great job on catching the snitch and taking out James!" Emily cheered as they passed around bottles of butter beer.

"James was the easy part!" Rose yelled as the team put her down.

"SONORUS!" Someone yelled and soon music was blasting from an unknown source.

She turned and was looking straight into the face of Mikael Flint.

"Great job," He whispered, and pulled her into a kiss.

"Oh," Rose gasped, but made no attempt to pull back. Instead she pressed herself closer to him.

Cheers erupted behind them.

"SNOG SNOG SNOG SNOG!" Everyone chanted, until Rose pulled back, a dorky smile on her face.

No one even noticed the furious look on Scorpius Malfoy's face.

"Hey," Mikael came up beside Rose, giving her a quick kiss. "How you doing baby?"

"Pretty good," She laughed as he linked his arm around her.

"Off to Hogsmede then?" He smiled a charming smile at her, and she just giggled.

"Yes," She laughed, and he pulled her in for another kiss.

Then they just walked away, leaving Scorpius standing looking after them.

"Look Mikael, it's just not working out. I'm sorry, but I think it's time we broke up." Rose said quietly, turning to face Mikael in the corridor.

"There's no way you're calling this off!" He yelled, pressing his lips to hers.

"It's over!" Rose struggled to pull away from him. "Get off me!"

"Not until I say it is!" He said.

All of a sudden a fist shot out, connecting with Mikael's jaw.

"What the…?" He cried, rubbing his hand along his jaw, but the fist connected with his face again, knocking a bleeding Mikael to the ground.

"Nobody touches Rose without her permission." Scorpius whispered, stepping out from the shadows.

Mikael jumped up, lunging for Scorpius again, but Scorpius was too fast for him. They collapsed to the ground, Scorpius winning but barely. One of Mikael fists connected with Scorpius's face and Scorpius stumbled back as Mikael jumped at him again…

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Rose screeched, pointing her wand at Mikael who froze instantly. Rose put her wand away and collapsed against the wall, crying.

"Oh Rosie," Scorpius whispered, taking her into his arms where she just sat and sobbed.

"I was so stupid!" She cried, burying her face into his shoulder.

"No, he was," He said quietly, glancing at Mikael. "Let's head back Rosie and let someone else deal with that jerk."

He turned and cupped her face in his hand as they started walking. "You really are amazing Rose."

She buried her face in his shoulder, whispering so low he could barely hear, "My knight in shining armour."

**AN: **Scorpius, the knight in shining armour! This chapter was the last of the "skimming chapters" and year six is where things are going to get broken down a lot more. Thanks to everybody for reading! Please review!


	4. Year 6 The Hogwarts Express

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Harry Potter universe.

"Scorp! Em! Kris!" Rose Weasley called as she pushed through the crowds of wizards at King's Cross Station.

"Bye dad! By mom! Later Hugo!" She yelled behind her as she joined her friends who were waiting right in the middle of platform 9 ¾ .

"Who's ready for the most glorious years of our lives?" Emily exclaimed dramatically linking her arm through Rose and Emily's.

"OMG! Absolutely!" Scorpius mocked, linking his arm through Rose's. Slowly, pushing through the crowd they began walking towards the gleaming red engine.

"How about you unlink your arm from my daughter's?" Ron Shoved himself in between Scorpius and Rose.

"A-absolutely sir," Scorpius stuttered, jumping away from Rose.

"For goodness sake Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, Pulling him back and linking her arm through his. "She's in sixth year now love."

"Well I at least want a proper goodbye," He grumbled, pulling his only daughter in for a hug.

"Stay out of trouble Rose," He whispered.

"Whatever dad," She rolled her eyes. "See you at Christmas."

"Bye Rose,"

She gave her mom a quick hug and good bye, linked her arm back through Emily and Scorpius' and entered the train.

"Look Scorp, I'm really sorry about that," Rose apologized as Emily and Kristen giggled.

"Oh would you shut up!" Rose laughed, "Just because I don't have a family of snakes…"

"Ouch!" Kristin said, pretending to be hurt.

"Now if we're talking about family issues…" Scorpius muttered, causing everyone to laugh.

They found a nearly empty compartment at the end of the train, occupied by a couple of first years.

"Scram," Emily said, plopping down as the frightened first years fled the compartment.

"You're a real charmer," Kristin mumbled.

"So you have any funny family stories?" Emily turned to Rose expectantly.

"Not really, nothing that compares to third year…" Everyone started laughing.

"Now that should have won for best dramatic scene on Platform 9 ¾ ." Kristin laughed.

_"ROSE?" Her dad exclaimed, drawing the stares of pretty much everyone on the platform._

_ "Hi dad," Rose said innocently, twirling a purple streak around her hair subconsciously. _

"_Wh-what did you DO?" He yelled, barely able to get the words out over his obvious fury._

_ "Well I think that's pretty obvious," She muttered sarcastically, looking up at him in defiance._

_ "Weasley, you're a WEASLEY! Weasleys do not just go dye their hair!" _

_ "Well obviously this one does!" _

_ "Ron," Hermione finally stepped in, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Honestly, it's just hair. Would you rather she get a tattoo or something? Now quit making a scene, we can talk later."_

_ "Fine," He grumbled and walked off towards the barrier._

_ Rose turned and her eyes instantly met with Scorpius, a smug grin on his face. She winked at him and walked through the barrier, perfectly proud of her new hair._

_ She didn't even care what her father said._

"Earth to Rose!" Kristin said, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, zoned out!" Rose laughed, as they heard the compartment door squeal open.

"Can't sit in this compartment guys," She heard someone sneer, "Would rather not die in a snakepit."

"At least I'm not the cowardly lion." Rose sneered back automatically, turning to look up into the face of Bethany Finnigan, who was now in her seventh year, and still with her cousin James.

"Well that's a lot coming from a know it all snake." She sneered back taking a step towards Rose. Rose jumped up, flanked by Emily, Scorpius and Kristin.

"Would you just stuff it Beth? And why don't you piss off and take Potter with you?" Scorpius said, staring at both of them with contempt.

"Whatever," Beth turned around, walking away with James in tow.

"Oh and James," Rose called sweetly after them. "You may want to make sure your girlfriend knows about your…" She pretended to look around and make sure no one was listening.

"Bed wetting problems," She staged whispered, eliciting a look of pure fury from James and Bethany.

"Have a good train ride!"Emily and Kristin called after them as they stormed towards the front of the train.

"That was priceless!" Scorpius exclaimed, slapping Rose a high five.

"And totally made up!" She laughed starting to walk towards the door.

"Oh yah," Scorpius moaned, "Prefect duties."

"Oh come on!" Rose said, dragging him out the door. "Later guys!"

Scorpius and Rose patrolled the halls, bored out of their minds. The most exciting thing they found was a couple first years and a jinxed exploding snap game…

Soon they could see the shadow of Hogwarts Castle through the windows.

"Rose?" Scorpius said as they finally disembarked the train.

"Yeah Scorpius?"

"Can I talk to you alone? It's kind of, ummm, personal." He muttered.

"Sure, I'm always here for you." She said kindly, turning to face him.

"Okay, so…"

"Scorpius! Rose!" Emily yelled, running up behind them. "Thanks for waiting. She sat down in a carriage, motioning for them to follow.

"Sorry Scorpius, can it wait until later?" She apologized, climbing up beside Kristin and Emily.

"Sure," He sighed, climbing up as Albert Flint climbed in beside them.

Soon the Slytherins in the carriage were talking and laughing, no one really noticing the faint whisper coming from Scorpius.

"I'll always wait Rose."

**AN: **So what do you think Scorpius was going to tell Rose (I promise there's another thing besides what I made obvious in this chapter!)? Sorry for the length of this chapter- I didn't want to bore you with stupid things that have no relevance at all, so I feel I ended it at a good spot. The next one will be longer! Please review!


	5. Year 6 Complications

Disclaimer: Hopefully no one is completely delusional and thinks I'm J.K. Rowling, because I don't own Harry Potter.

**Chapter 5 - Complications**

"_Rose," Scorpius whispered, pressing his lips to hers and wrapping his arms around her._

_ "Scorpius," She sighed, twisting her fingers in his hair._

_ "I love you,"_

Rose jolted awake, dashing towards the prefect's bathroom. She flung herself at the sink, splashing cold water in her face.

She did NOT just have a dream about Scorpius. They were _friends…_ She heard a stupid little voice in the back of her mind, _But do you want it to be that way?_

_Absolutely! _She assured herself. That stupid little kiss in third year had been absolutely nothing! He obviously didn't think anything of it and she shouldn't either! She fled to her trunk and started pulling out clothes, trying to get her mind to something else.

Settling on her typical uniform –a plaid skirt, tucked in white blouse, and her Slytherin tie draped over her neck- she stood in front of the mirror, focussing elsewhere. Wanting to jazz it up a bit, she pulled on a pair of studded ankle boots, and stuck in a feather earring in and stuck her wand in her shoulder bag.

As she walked out the door, she ran smack into Scorpius.

"H-hi," She flustered, quickly stepping back.

"So, about what I was talking about yesterday…" He started, trying to walk with her.

"Sorry, but I really have to go to potions." Rose called leaving Scorpius standing in the hall.

Scorpius stood in the hall, watching Rose hurry off to potions. Why couldn't he just spit it out already! _"Rose, I really like you."_ It was not that hard!

He ran his fingers through his hair exasperatedly, and started off towards the great hall. He sat down alone at the end of the table, not wanting to listen to Kristin, Emily and all of the other Slytherin friends he had.

Why did life have to be so complicated?

After everything that had happened in his life, he finally found one really good friend… And then his stupid heart got in the way, and had to start liking her! All he wanted to do was come clean, about liking her, his grandfather …

But now she was avoiding him.

Worry clenched in his stomach. Had she found out from someone else? The only person he'd told was Justin! If he had told, he would hex him into oblivion…

"Hey Scorpius!" He heard someone say in a sing-song voice as she sat down beside him.

"Hi," He muttered, trying not to sound annoyed as he looked up into the face of Michelle Shay.

"Aaaaw, is someone cranky?" She mock pouted, putting her hand on his. He quickly recoiled, jumping out of his chair.

"Sorry Michelle, but I'm really not in the mood." He sighed as he turned to walk away, eager to get away from her. She sat in her chair, looking upset, but then turned to stomp off.

Scorpius fled the room, turning to head towards the potions classroom. Apparently Rose completely forgot that they had that class together.

He rounded the corner, when he saw Rose face to face with Bethany Finnigan, who was flanked by James and Hugo, along with a bunch of Gryffindor girls.

"I don't care what you think Bethany!" She yelled, and turned to face James. "Quite the girlfriend you've got here, and glad to know you are really thinking for yourself Hugo."

"Shut up Rose!" James said, "Why can't you just piss off and leave me alone?" He yelled, stepping in front of Beth.

"Tell your witch of a girlfriend to stop getting in my business and I will!"

"Ha ha ha, we're both witches here, but I think we might need to swipe a few letters for you," Beth sneered, linking her arms through James.

Scorpius ran up next to Rose, and turned to glare at Bethany, James and a quiet Hugo.

" Hey Rose," He turned to face her and then turned back to Bethany. "Can you go get Hagrid? I think one of his blast ended skrewts got loose."

Bethany's face turned bright red as she grabbed James's arm to storm away, Hugo following them silently. "You better watch your backs snakes."

"You really scare me," Scorpius said sarcastically, as he turned and walked away with Rose.

"Hey Hugo!" She yelled towards him as he walked down the hall, "Better watch out, I hear brainlessness is contagious, unless you've already caught it!"

Scorpius started laughing, and patted her on the back as she started laughing too… Soon they collapsed onto the chairs in potions still laughing.

"Thanks Scorpius," she sighed as they walked back towards the dungeons. "I really appreciate it."

"Any time Rose, anytime."

He gently turned her face towards his and looked her in the eyes.

"Tonight, we need to talk." He said seriously, hoping she wouldn't try to avoid him again.

She just nodded, and pulled him into a hug.

"You're a true friend."

**AN: **I'm so sorry about how long this update took! School started off kind of crazy, and drama club is every day except Wednesday, so you can expect slower updates for a couple of months. I'm hoping to update more often, but I'm not sure if that will happen… I'm really excited for the next chapter, so I hope you guys all kep reading!

Please Review!


	6. year 6 New Horizons

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

**Chapter 6 – New Horizons**

"Rose?" Scorpius called into the common room as he came back from the Great Hall after dinner. Rose hadn't been there, and he was starting to wonder if James and Bethany had gotten their revenge…

He heard quiet sobs coming from the otherwise empty common room, and went towards the sounds.

"Rose?" He called again, slightly worried. Had James and Beth managed to get in here?

"Rose!" He called in relief as he saw her curled up on the couch, her face buried in her arms. He dropped his stuff and ran over to her, pulling her into him and wrapping his arms protectively around her.

"Ssh, ssh," He soothed, rubbing her back, completely unsure of what to do.

"Ummm," He flustered, not knowing what to say. "What's wrong?"

"M-my whole f-family h-hates me." She cried, looking at him with puffy red eyes.

"J-James practically h-has a hate club for me, H-Hugo won't even talk to m-me and my dad freaking h-hates me!" She cried, burying her face in his shirt again.

"They don't hate you Rose," He assured, "They just can't handle all that Slytherin. And your dad doesn't hate you; he's just overprotective and is angry that you're growing up."

"I know," she wiped her eyes and cracked a small smile. "Why did I h-have to be different?"

"Because you are different Rose… In an amazing way."

"Thank you," She wiped her eyes, struggling to stifle the sobs, "Thanks for being here for me."

"I'm always here for you Rose," He said seriously.

"So," She tried to change the subject, obviously trying not to cry anymore. "What did you want to talk about?"

He awkwardly rubbed his hand through his hair. "We really don't have to talk right now…"

"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, tell me what you needed to tell me!" Rose started to laugh, smacking him playfully.

"Not the full name!" He cringed, and Rose began to laugh again. He loved her laugh…

"So are you going to tell me or not?" She said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it's just… Rose, my grandfather is missing, and my family is pretty sure he's rallying remaining death eaters." He said hastily, looking down at the ground.

"Wow… That's really bad Scorp." She said, shifting her hands awkwardly.

"You can't tell anyone Rose, not Kristin, Emily or Justin… I had enough issues with the Malfoy name when I came here, and if people found out…"

"Your secret's safe with me," He looked up into her face and saw her smiling. "Why did you take so long to tell me?"

"I just didn't know what you'd think, and there's something else too… Umm, Rose" He grabbed her hand and looked her straight in the eyes…

"Rose! Scorpius!" Emily burst into the room. "Headmistress McGonagall wants to see you guys right away."

"Why?" Rose jumped up and ran after Emily and Scorpius followed, frustration bubbling. He had just got the courage to tell her!

They ran alongside Emily, wondering what could be this urgent. Rose stumbled in those stupid ankle boots she had on, but Scorpius caught her arm and kept going.

They came to the stone gargoyle, and Emily stopped. "Dumbledore," She panted and they rushed up the stairs.

Headmistress McGonagall stood in the middle of the room, her back to the trio. "Thank you Emily,"

She turned, a look of worry on her face as she faced the trio. "Scorpius, your father has gone missing."

Rose turned to look at Scorpius, and saw his face pale. She linked her arm through his in reassurance, Emily linking her arm through Scorpius's other side.

"What do you mean?" He said, his eyes showing pure shock.

"Your mother reported to the ministry's auror department this morning that your father was gone in the morning. We've called his work, and other family but no one knows where he is. We think this may relate to your grandfather's disappearance." Sadness crept into her voice as she watched any remaining colour empty from Scorpius's face.

Rose felt him stiffen as a silence settled over the room. "What are you going to do?" She asked McGonagall, almost pleading with her to give her more information.

"Scorpius may choose to go home, or stay here… Either way we will have protection on him and his mother." She answered, turning her gaze to Scorpius and looking at him with concern. He still hadn't moved.

"Scorpius," Rose shook his arm gently. He turned to look at her, worry showing all over his face.

"I'm going to stay here," He said to McGonagall, "Is there anything else?"

"No, I'll keep you posted on what's going on. You can always come see me if you need anything."

"Sure," He said, his voice sounding like it was somewhere else. Without saying anything else he walked out of the room, and Rose quickly followed.

He walked quickly, ignoring everyone around him and as soon as he entered the dungeon, he walked into the boy's dorm without another word.

Rose woke up early the next morning, even though she had stayed in the common room until 11:00 in case Scorpius came out. She went down to the common room, wondering if he had gone down to breakfast, but he wasn't there.

She sat down next to Emily, who looked like she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep either.

"Have you talked to Scorpius?" She whispered, looking concerned.

"He's been in his dorm since we went back to the common room last night." She sighed, stuffing some cereal in her mouth. "But if he's not out when I get back, I'm going in to talk to him."

"Do you want me to come? Or do you want to go for it by yourself? I think you know him a little better than I do."

"I think it'd be better if I just went, I have no idea what kind of state he's in." She whispered, shoving the last of her cereal in her mouth, and standing up to leave.

"I'll cover for you in Transfiguration," She said, and Rose went back down to the common room.

As she entered the dungeons, she searched the common room for Scorpius, but as she expected, he wasn't there.

She walked up to the door on the boys' common room, and knocked softly on the door.

"Scorpius?" She called, slowly opening the door when there was no answer. She looked around the common room, but to her surprise he wasn't there either.

"Well where the heck did he go?" she mumbled to herself, and left the room, thinking about where he could possibly be.

She walked up to the seventh floor… Maybe he had gone to the astronomy tower or something... She was walking down a long corridor, thinking that she needed to find him, when she heard a strange sound behind her, almost like bricks were moving.

She turned around, and saw a large door forming on the wall beside her. Without hesitation, she opened the doors, and found herself in a large room with couches and a fireplace at one end.

Scorpius was sitting on an arm chair, staring into the fireplace as if in a trance.

"What is this place?" Rose whispered, and Scorpius whipped around in shock. His face flooded with relief as he saw Rose standing there.

She walked over, and sat down in a couch across from him.

"I actually don't know what this is," He answered, looking back at the fire. "I needed some place to get away, that other people couldn't find, and it just appeared."

"How did I get in here then, if you didn't want other people to find it?" She questioned out loud, and Scorpius looked up into her eyes.

"I guess I wanted you here."

Rose blushed and looked down at her shoes. There was no denying it anymore… she liked him, and wanted to tell him so bad. She just didn't want to ruin their friendship by telling him if he didn't feel the same way.

But he said he'd wanted her here…

"So how are you doing?" She asked, changing the subject.

"I'm holding up, I just couldn't deal with everyone." He sighed, leaning back on the couch.

"You had me and Emily worried," Rose told him, and he moved to sit on the couch next to her. She placed a hand on his shoulder, and gently turned his head so he was looking into her eyes. "Now how are you really doing?"

"Pretty awful, Rose," He said, sounding on the brink of tears, "First my grandfather goes missing, then my father… It seems like everyone close to me is disappearing."

"I'm not going anywhere," Rose whispered, staring straight into his eyes.

They sat in silence for a moment, just staring into each other's eyes. Scorpius leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. Rose closed her eyes, loving the feeling of kissing him.

He pulled back too soon. "I'm sorry," He smiled his goofy grin at her, but his eyes showed worry. How could he think she wouldn't like him back?

"I'm not," She laughed, and curled up against him, staring into the fire.

**AN: **Yay! I've been waiting to write that chapter since I started this story! I'm really excited that I can get a lot more into the plot now… What is up with Scorpius' dad and grandfather? And where does Emily fit into all of this?

Reviews make me write faster


	7. Year 6 As Long As You're Mine

AN: I don't own Harry Potter

Chapter 7: As Long As You're Mine

Rose awoke just as the sun was rising the next morning, still curled up on the couch with Scorpius. Trying not to awaken him, she stood up and walked towards the large window on one side of the room.

Well this complicated things.

She laid her forehead against the cool window pane, and sighed sadly. There was no way her father was going to be okay with this… And this seemed like a lot to dump on Scorpius right now. What if he just thought he wanted her because of how much pain he was in? Once they went down the "Dating" path, there was no going back. Was it worth it to risk their friendship on a whim?

What was she going to do?

She felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her. "Morning sleeping beauty," He whispered in her ear, and she leaned her head back on his shoulder.

The window in front of her seemed to almost melt back into the wall, until there was a large window seat in front of it.

"I love this room," Scorpius chuckled as they sat down and curled up against the window.

"So now what?" Rose sighed, looking around into his eyes.

"What?" He questioned, confusion crossing his handsome face. She loved the look of his face… And kissing him…

She shook her head, banishing those thoughts away. "What about you and me?" She whispered, "If my dad finds out, this will be over before it started. There's no doubt in my mind that Hugo or James would tell him if they found out, and I don't want to go through that ordeal until I'm sure this is serious."

"I agree," he said seriously, his eyes not leaving hers. Her face fell, and she turned so he couldn't see the tears threatening to fall. He thought this was a mistake…

"People shouldn't know we're dating, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't see each other." He gently turned her chin so she was looking into his eyes again. "People near to me are in jeopardy with my grandfather and father missing, but I have no doubts that I want to be with you Rose."

A smile spread across her face as she flung her arms around him and kissed him. How on Earth had she gotten this lucky?

She buried her face into his shirt, and curled up on his lap.

He slowly started to hum, and she turned her smiling face up to his. "Sing to me… Isn't that what happens in all romantic movies?"

"Okay… What do you want me to sing?" He questioned, a confused look on his face.

"Surprise me,"

"Maybe I'm brainless maybe I'm wise, but you've got me seeing through different eyes… Somehow I've fallen under your spell, and right now I'm feeling so glad I fell,"

Rose instantly recognized the song, and tears of joy sprang to her eyes as she started to sing along with him.

"Every moment, as long as you're mine, I've lost all resistance and crossed the border line… Say there's no future for us as a pair, I just know, I don't care… As long as you're mine."

Scorpius headed up to the boy's dormitory, his heart pounding in his chest after all that happened. Rose was _his!_ After all his efforts to be there for her since he first met her, and watching her heart broken and trampled, he was hers.

Except no one could know.

It was going to be complicated, but at that moment he was so elated by joy that he didn't even care. Rose and Scorpius, Scorpius and Rose… The inseparable pair! It made him want to dance, and scream out to the world…

But right now, he couldn't.

The disappointment crashed down on him as the realization of what he was doing entered his brain. He was putting Rose in danger, just by showing how much he cared about her. He tried to reassure himself as he changed clothes and gelled his hair back, _No one will find out until the threat is over… She is in no more danger than she'd be if she was just my friend._

With that thought, he bounded out of the room and out to the lake where he had agreed to meet Rose. He rounded the corner of the old shack behind the lake, waiting to see her beautiful face…

And ran right into Emily.

"Sorry!" He cried as they tumbled to the ground.

"No problem," She laughed as Scorpius helped pick up her scattered books. "Just heading back from Hagrid's… He let me do some extra credit work with unicorns."

"Awesome!" Scorpius said distractedly as he helped Emily to her feet. His eyes were already searching for Rose.

"Where are you off to Scorpius? Hot date?" Emily teased, elbowing him playfully in the ribs.

"Um… Well…"

"Don't worry, I'll let you go…You're breaking a lot of hearts tonight Scorpius." She laughed and started to walk away, but just as she neared the edge of the lake, she turned.

"She must be one lucky girl." She smiled and continued walking.

"Nope," Scorpius muttered to himself, "I'm one lucky guy."

Rose sat waiting under an old willow tree near the shack by the lake. She loved the privacy, calm and serenity of this place, and figured it was the perfect place for her and Scorpius's first real "date."

"Hi beautiful," Scorpius smiled, sitting down next to her and wrapping his arms around her.

She nestled up closer to him, laying her head on his chest as he pulled her even tightly to him. She smiled and sighed in contentment as they looked out across the water.

"This isn't going to be easy," Scorpius sighed, "I ran into Emily on the way here."

"You didn't tell her did you?" Rose exclaimed, pulling away to look Scorpius in the face.

"No," He assured her, resting his hand reassuringly on her shoulder, "But it must be pretty obvious that I really like someone because she guessed it was a date." He smiled his goofy smile then, and Rose couldn't help but smile back.

"This going to be really difficult," She sighed. Leaning her head back against his shoulder as he pulled her close again. "I just saw you this morning and I already started to miss you."

"As long as we can be together, we'll figure it out." He whispered, and she could hear his smile in his voice.

She turned her head and pressed her lips to his, savouring the sweet kiss.

"We'll always be together."

"Absolutely,"

AN: I have to say, I absolutely love writing these chapters… Rose and Scorpius are just so perfect together! Writing makes me happy, and reviews make me even happier


	8. Year 6 Romance, Trouble and ButtKicking

Chapter 8: Romance, Trouble and General Butt-Kicking

_"Lucius Malfoy was spotted at approximately 2:30 am this morning in the woods near Cambridge, in the company of several known death eaters as well as some others whose names are unknown. Although the person who spotted them will remain anonymous for security reasons, we are lucky enough to have a photograph as proof. Unfortunately the "spotter" was merely in possession of a muggle camera at the time, so the photograph remains still._

_The whereabouts of Draco Malfoy are still unknown, but many are assuming he is helping his father resume what he started all those years ago… Unless of course, he is just a victim. However, many deem this highly unlikely given the history of the two people. Keep an eye out, these dangerous Malfoys could be closer than you think._

_This article written by Zachary Skeeter"_

Rose saw Scorpius's knuckles whiten as he crumpled up the Daily Prophet and tossed it on the ground. Rose placed her hand on his thigh reassuringly, and looked at him with concern.

"It's just another article by Skeeter, don't worry about it…" She tried to console him_._

Without another word Scorpius jumped out of his chair and stormed out of the hall, everyone staring at him. Some people from the Gryffindor table started snickering, and Rose stood up to follow.

Clouded with fury, she stormed over to the Gryffindor table, giving them a glare that immediately cut off the laughter.

"I don't know how the cowardly lions do it," She sneered, putting her hands angrily on her hips. "But over in Slytherin, we don't act like a bunch of bitches who can't talk to someone's face."

Leaving all the Gryffindors staring at her in shock, she turned on her heel and followed Scorpius.

She walked down the large corridor looking for him. She couldn't even imagine having to deal with this, and she definitely didn't want him to go through it alone.

As she searched down the corridors, she turned a corner and heard yelling coming down from the far end… Wanting to fulfill her duty as prefect, she ran down to stop whatever fight was obviously happening.

And saw James, Beth… And Scorpius.

"Running away to join your daddy, deatheater spawn?" She spat, and Rose could see Scorpius's hands clenched into fists.

"No," James sneered, "He's going to be his daddy's ears on the inside… The spy of Hogwarts."

"Shut up," Rose said menacingly the same time Scorpius's fist shot out and came in contact with James's face.

However, James easily outweighed Scorpius by 30 pounds, and soon he was punching Scorpius back, trying to pin him to the ground. She watched Beth come up behind Scorpius, her fists braced…

"Oh crap," Rose muttered, launching herself at Beth's back and looping her arms around her neck.

"Get off me!" She grunted, swinging her arms as she tried to get Rose off her back. Meanwhile James, distracted by Rose jumping at Bethany, was knocked off balance by Scorpius and fell to the ground.

One of Beth's fists caught the side of Rose's face and she fell off her back, slightly stunned.

"Little weakling," She chuckled, pulling her fist back…

Rose jumped up and closed her eyes, her fist shooting out blindly.

"Shit!" She heard Beth cry, and opened her eyes when no further punches came. She was clutching her nose, which was pouring blood. She glanced at Scorpius, who had managed to get James pinned on the ground, they shared a small victory smile.

"Who's the weakling?" Rose taunted, almost laughing.

"Rose! Scorpius! Bethany! James!" Professor Benson, the new potions teacher, yelled as she ran over to the four of them. "I can't believe this! Go up to Headmistress McGonnagal's office immediately!"

She quickly waved her wand, stopping the bleeding on Bethany's nose, but it was still an ugly purple colour… Rose had definitely broken her nose. Despite the fact that they were heading to the headmistress's office and her parents would get called, Rose smiled to herself

As she moved to walk next to Scorpius, she turned and whispered in his ear, "We sure showed them."

"Heck yeah," He laughed under his breath, holding his fist out for a subtle fist bump.

They came to the entrance to McGonnagal's office, and they started trudging up the stairs. As they entered the headmistress turned around, a look of shock crossing her face.

"What in Merlin's name happened?" She cried, surveying the bruises all over them and the blood still on Beth's shirt.

"They were being moronic jerks to Scorpius, he punched James and I came in for back-up," Rose spoke calmly. They had got what was coming to them.

"So you guys got in a fight? Rose you and Scorpius are prefects!" She scolded.

Fury bubbled inside Rose. _They_ were getting in trouble? Beth and James had started it!

"They started it!" She said, her voice rising, "If they would just leave us alone this wouldn't have happened!"

"Is this true Bethany and James?" She questioned, "Were you being 'moronic jerks' to Scorpius?"

"It's not my fault they can't take a joke," Beth muttered, and James just looked at his shoes.

"All four of you have detention every Saturday for the next five weeks. Rose and Scorpius, report to Hagrid's Hut and Beth and James report to Mr. Filch. If this ever happens again I won't be this easy on you."

Rose felt her body flood with relief. Punishment with Hagrid was a walk in the park, she actually enjoyed care of magical creatures, so detention with him couldn't be too bad.

"Now wait here while I notify your parents, they will be here momentarily." McGonnagal said, and left the room.

"Oh crap," Rose whimpered, turning to look at Scorpius, "I'm going to be in so much trouble."

"I'll back you up," He winked, and their parents walked through the door.

"Rose Weasley!" She heard her dad yell first as they burst into the room. "How dare you get into a fight with your own cousin!"

"I didn't fight James, I fought Beth." She said, looking him straight in the eye.

"We're very disappointed Rose," Her mom scolded.

"Be disappointed in them! It's their freaking fault anyways!" She yelled, jumping out of her chair… she was not taking the blame for this one!

"It's true!" Scorpius chimed in, looking at his mother.

She just glared at her dad, looking him straight in the eyes and crossing her arms. There was no way she was going to take this sitting down.

She heard her Uncle Harry talking to James on the opposite side of the room. For a moment she almost felt bad for James- Harry was head of the auror department and spent many hours interrogating people.

"Did you and Beth start the fight?" He asked simply, staring James straight in the eyes, a calm look on his face.

She saw James start to squirm in his chair, but he looked up and met his dad's eyes.

"He threw the first punch," He said, glaring at his dad.

"You're avoiding the question," Harry said, his voice starting to rise. "Did you or did you not start the fight."

"Well, I…"

"James Potter!"

"Fine!" James yelled, jumping up. "Beth and I started the stupid fight! What Rose said was true." He turned to look at Beth apologetically.

She just glared at him as McGonnagal stepped forwards. "Very well, Rose and Scorpius will only serve three weeks of detention… You may go."

Rose and Scorpius turned to leave, but they felt their parent's hand grab their shoulders.

They both turned to look up into the faces of Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny and Astoria, all with confused looks on their faces.

"Scorpius, has this thing with Beth and James been going on for a while?" Astoria asked with concern, her eyes glancing at Rose.

"Well… only since second year." He said, looking at the floor bashfully.

"But usually it's just verbal stuff," Rose intervened; looking at Harry's shocked face. "This is the first time we've physically fought them."

Harry cracked a small smile, and looked over his shoulder. "I would never say this in front of McGonnagal, but nice one! She was double your size and you completely crushed her! That's my niece!"

"Harry!" Her dad, Hermione and Ginny exclaimed. Rose and Scorpius started to laugh as they gave each other small high-fives behind their backs.

"Just don't let it happen again Rose." Her mom said sternly.

"You to Scorpius," Astoria said firmly.

"As long as they don't beat on Scorpius again and I don't have to save his butt." Rose smiled at Scorpius and he cracked a smile back.

"And as long as they don't try and beat on Rose." He smiled, and they started to laugh.

"Bye guys!" Their parents called, and they disappeared in a swirl of green flame.

Scorpius tenderly ran his fingers over the large bruise blossoming around Rose's eye and down the side of her face as she sat, curled up on his lap, in the room of requirement. "I'm so sorry Rose, you really took a hit."

"I'll always come in for back-up." She smiled, "And it actually doesn't hurt awfully unless something puts pressure on it."

"Want me to kiss it better?"

Rose giggled as Scorpius trailed gentle kisses all the way down the bruise and ended at her lips.

"That feels much better," she smiled.

"Glad to help,"

"Scorpius," Rose said seriously, turning to look him in the eye. "We're going to look for your grandfather and dad."

"What?" Scorpius cried, turning to look Rose in the face. She felt his whole body tense. "Are you out of your mind? They have top notch authorities on that Rose… And I'm not putting you in harm's way just to help me…"

"Shut up for a minute and let me finish!" She teased, resting a hand reassuringly on his thigh and feeling him relax a bit. "I don't mean we're going to go charging off to Cambridge! We'll do some research, and see if we can figure out some of the motives Lucius has for kidnapping your dad. We're not going to do anything stupid."

"Okay," He sighed, placing a sweet kiss on her lips that left her craving more. "Just promise me you won't do anything that'll risk you being taken away from me."

"I promise," She sighed, turning and trailing kisses down his jaw bone before kissing his mouth. "Together forever, right?"

She felt him smile underneath her kiss, "Forever."

**AN: **In case you haven't figured it out, I love lovey-dovey endings, so there's another one:) (And yes I know it's really corny, but a little corn is good for you!) I've been feeling very inspired to write lately, so I'm going to write as much as I can while I'm in this wonderful mood. Please review!


	9. Year 6 Nightmares

**Chapter 9 Nightmares**

_ Lucius walked off into the distance, Rose being carried in front of him by two masked death eaters. Scorpius ran after her, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move. It was as if he was paralyzed in time._

_ "That's what you get for letting people get close to you Scorpius," Lucius taunted, stopping so the struggling Rose was in full view. "Look what you've done foolish boy, she's simply a pawn because she's close to you."_

_ "N-no…" Scorpius grunted, struggling against the invisible barrier holding him back._

_ "Oh yes," Lucius laughed, "And this is only the beginning."_

Scorpius jolted awake, a thin sheen of sweat across his face. _It's only a dream, it's only a dream… Only a dream…_

But it wasn't.

The thing that was so scary about the dream is how true it was! If Rose got hurt, kidnapped or worse, it would all be his fault. Merlin's beard… If his grandfather found out they were a couple…

He shook his head, trying to banish the thoughts form his mind. Slowly so he didn't wake up anyone else, he crept out of bed and into the girl's dormitory. He just needed to see her face and make sure she was okay…

Searching through all the sixth year girls seemed to take forever and, of course, her bed was way at the far end of the room. Tentatively, he shook her shoulder and whispered, "Rose,"

"Mmm," She sighed, turning over.

He shook her shoulder a little harder, "Rose, it's Scorpius."

"What the heck are you doing in here?" She murmured, slowly blinking her eyes open.

"Nightmare… I just needed to see you were okay."

"I had a bad dream too… common room?" She whispered, swinging her legs out of bed and staggering drunkenly into his arms.

She was wearing a baggy t-shirt and short-shorts… Really short short-shorts…

She shook her head as she saw him gawking, and laughed silently, shaking her hips suggestively. He rolled his eyes as she led him out the door and down to the empty common room. He sat down, and she sat on his lap so her head rested on his shoulder.

"Okay," She yawned, "Tell me about your dream first."

"Lucius took you, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it." He whispered, sounding almost angry about it.

"Well that's never going to happen," She said softly, "I'm not going anywhere."

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, but she quickly tilted her head up to meet his mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck, starting to kiss him deeper…

"Well isn't that interesting."

They whipped their heads around, terrified of who had seen them, but there was Emily standing on the staircase, a quizzical look on her face.

They both blushed, and Rose let out a nervous giggle.

Emily put her hands on her hips. "You guys certainly have some explaining to do."

"Surprise!" Rose said with an awkward smile, "We're a couple!"

"Well no shit Rose," She said sarcastically and sat down next to them on a small armchair. "Any particular reason you haven't told anyone, or ME, about this couple-hood?"

"Family issues," Scorpius sighed, absentmindedly twirling a piece of Rose's hair around his finger. "We don't want Lucius to find out and make her a target…"

"And you would not want to see my dad if he found out… This whole relationship would be over before it started." Rose smiled at Emily, "And you like to gossip."

"Do not!" Emily exclaimed, and Scorpius saw Rose raise her eyebrows at her. "Fine, I gossip… But I can keep a secret! Anyways, how long has this been going on?"

"Ummm, about a week and a half." Scorpius answered.

"Well it's about time!" Emily finally cried, throwing her hands up in the air. "It's been totally obvious you guys are crazy about each other… I was just wondering when you guys would stop being stupid and realize you were meant to be."

"So you're not mad?" Rose questioned worriedly, but Scorpius was wondering the same thing… He didn't want to lose Emily's friendship.

"Heck no! It's totally understandable, and I'm really happy for you guys." She smiled, as Rose turned to Scorpius to smile at him.

"Thanks," She turned to smile at Emily and Scorpius smiled as well, things were finally working out!

"And if you guys ever need some help getting some private time, I'll gladly help." Emily winked at Rose, "Or if you need a place to crash when your dad freaks out when you tell him."

"Thanks," Rose chuckled, and turned back to look at Scorpius.

"Well," Emily said, sticking her hands on her knees and standing up. "I'll leave you guys back to… Ummm… Whatever you were doing." And she disappeared upstairs.

"Well this is perfect," Rose smiled, looking straight into Scorpius's eyes. "I felt awful keeping things from her."

"Absolutely," Scorpius smiled, pulling her into another kiss. She immediately pulled him closer and he kissed her harder.

He felt her tense against him, and she pulled away abruptly, jumping off his lap and fleeing to the window and frantically ripping open the curtains completely.

Startled and surprised, he ran over to see what she was looking at. He couldn't see anything, but obviously she had.

Her face was white as a sheet, and there was a look of sheer terror in her beautiful eyes.

"What the heck did you see?" He said calmly, even though he was starting to feel scared just from seeing her so terrified. He pulled her into his arms, but she refused to take her eyes off the window.

"Lucius,"

Scorpius felt his heart begin to pound, and he felt Rose start to shake.

"Ssh, ssh," He said, attempting to soothe her even though he was terrified himself. "He can't touch you."

"I'm not worried about me," she started to solve, "I'm w-worried about you. If h-he went after m-me, it w-would only be to get to y-you."

Gently, he took her shoulder and turned her around to face him. He cupped her face with his hands so her eyes met his. "I don't want you to worry about me at all."

"Well I'm going to, so you might as well get used to it." She tried to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"We should go get McGonagall, just to let her know what you saw." He said, wrapping his arms around her as they left the common room.

They walked in silence, and Scorpius could feel how tense Rose was beneath his arms. Thoughts swarmed through Scorpius's mind, and he felt knots in his stomach.

_ Lucius had seen them._

Fear began to set in to Scorpius as that one little thought set in. All he had done was meet her in the commons, and Lucius had seen them… which meant that he must have been searching around the windows in the first place.

They approached the door of the office, and Rose reached out a shaking hand to hesitantly knock on the door. As they heard footsteps approaching, Scorpius took his arm off Rose's shoulder, and a tired looking headmistress opened the door.

"Rose! Scorpius! What on Earth are you doing here at this time of night?" Her gaze travelled to Rose's pale face, and she opened the door to let them in.

"I saw him, headmistress… I saw Lucius in the window of the common room while Scorpius and I were studying." She said, some of the confidence returning to her voice.

"It's probably best if you floo your uncle Rose… There's a fireplace in the corner you can use."

Scorpius watched Rose throw some floo powder into the fireplace, and step into the green flames.

As soon as she left, McGonagall turned to Scorpius. "I don't know what the story is with you two, or what you were doing, but I'm pretty sure you weren't studying at 2:00 in the morning."

"But we were…"

"Please don't start with the excuses Scorpius, I'm not going to tell anyone about whatever is going on here." She stared straight into his eyes through he glasses, and Scorpius started to shift uncomfortably. "But I would suggest you be careful with who sees you… and if this is serious, please tell Ron at a good time because you know he's going to have a conniption."

She gave him a smile as Rose stepped back through the fireplace, Harry Potter right behind her.

"I can't believe he managed to get into the grounds… "He started pacing back and forth, deep in thought. "Astoria is already in a ministry safe house… but they can't take Scorpius too…" He continued mumbling and Rose and Scorpius glanced at each other. What was going to happen?

A light dawned on Harry, and he whipped around to face Scorpius. "Would you like to stay at my house? Ginny wouldn't mind, and I swear James will behave or he'll be out on the streets."

"Ummm, sure…" He stuttered, "What about Rose?"

"All Lucius saw was you studying together… She won't be a target for him."

Scorpius looked at Rose with worry. Unless they told Harry, Rose was going to be at Hogwarts unprotected.

Rose gave him a small nod. "Um, Mr. Potter… Sir… Rose and I have kind of been secretly dating for a couple weeks now and when Rose saw Lucius we were kind of ummm… Being a couple."

Harry chuckled, not looking shocked at all. "I take it Ron doesn't know about it?"

They shook their heads.

"Okay… that changes things a bit… Do you want to come stay too Rose?" He smiled, looking back and forth from Rose and Scorpius. "There's only a few days until Christmas, so you guys can just come tonight if that's okay with the headmistress here…?" He turned to McGonagall with a questioning look.

"Of course," She said, "I'll send your things in the morning. Harry, do you think it's necessary to send the students home early? I would rather not instil panic if it isn't necessary."

"It's not necessary… I think he's mainly after Scorpius, so with him gone the school shouldn't be under a threat. I'll send some people over though,"

"And I'll advise the students of the threat, just to be safe."

Rose cut in, worry in her voice. "Can you please tell Emily we're safe? She was talking to us last night and she'll worry."

"Of course," McGonagall said, "And I'll let your parents know as well… Please be safe."

"We will," Scorpius said solemnly as Harry stepped into the fireplace and he was gone.

Rose stepped into the fireplace, Scorpius stepping in beside her and grabbing her hand. She smiled at him, yelled Harry's address and they were engulfed by green flames.

Emily awoke early the next morning, a giddy smile on her face.

They were together! She felt as happy as she would if she was in a relationship herself. After years of trying to get them together, they had finally become a couple. It kind of sucked that they weren't telling anybody, but at least they were happy.

Happily, she swung her legs out of bed and ran over to her trunk, throwing on a pair of stiletto heels and a green plaid skirt. She threw on a white tank top and draped a Slytherin tie over her shoulders.

When she was ready, she turned to Rose's bed, wondering if she was already up, only to see that it was already empty.

Just then a timid second year girl walked in, and walked over to her. "Headmistress McGonagall wants to see you," She squeaked and scurried out of the room.

A puzzled look crossed Emily's face as she made her way to McGonagall's office. Why did McGonagall want her for? And where was Rose?

She could guess the answer to the latter question… and she guessed it had something to do with a certain boy named Scorpius Malfoy…

She knocked on the door, and it swung open almost immediately. She was met by a kind smile from McGonagall, and walked into the large office.

"Rose and Scorpius are currently staying with Rose's uncle Harry, and they asked me to pass on the message so you wouldn't worry about their whereabouts." She said, sitting at her desk and turning to look at a stack of papers on top of it again.

"How come?" She questioned, a strange feeling knotting her stomach…

"This is for your ears only Emily, the rest of the school will be alerted at breakfast, but I don't want to cause alarm… Rose spotted Lucius Malfoy looking into the window of the commons last night, so they went to stay with Harry just as an extra precaution. I can ensure they will be absolutely safe."

Worry twisted Emily's stomach… Lucius had been lurking around Hogwarts? How had he gotten near the school without anyone noticing.

She tried to plaster a smile on her face, and tried to sound confident, "Thanks for letting me know Headmistress," She said, surprised at how sure her voice sounded.

And she turned and walked into the bustling hallway.

Emily came into the empty dormitory after potions, and hurried over to her bed, kicking her shoes off in the process. She flopped herself down, and began staring at the ceiling, thoughts flitting through her mind.

She felt herself drifting into sleep, but was disturbed by a series of taps on the window. She turned to look, and saw a grey owl perched on the ledge, a small strip of parchment tied to its leg. She rolled out of bed, and opened the window, letting the owl fly inside and perch on her bed.

Fingers shaking, she untied the letter from its leg… She recognized this owl.

She opened up the piece of parchment and read.

_E,_

_This is your last chance to join us. I have been more than patient, as have everyone else because we believe you would be valuable to have as an ally in this. However, L has grown tired of waiting for you. D has tried to escape nearly twice already, and L is launching "Plan S" in mere days. _

_Consider my offer, things are about to get a lot worse._

_TF_

AN: I've wanted to write this chapter forever! I'm so sorry it took so long, life has been pretty crazy lately, and I haven't had a lot of time to write. I can tell you right now that Emily is going to become a lot more essential to the plot in the next few chapters…

So who do you think TF might be?

Please review!


	10. Year 6 Confusion

**Chapter 10 Confusion**

Rose rolled over in bed, the sheets feeling a lot crisper than they usually did. She kept turning, and then realized, too late, that there was no more bed in that direction.

She let out a small shriek as she hit the floor, and her eyes flew open. Disoriented, she looked around. This wasn't her dorm room.

Suddenly, memories came flooding back…. _The dorm room… Scorpius… Lucius…._

_ Scorpius._

She sat up, gently rubbing the lump slowly forming on the back of her head from sitting the floor. She sat back down on her bed, thoughts of last night swimming through her drowsy brain.

_Knock knock._

"Come in," she called tiredly, moving over to the window seat. She stared out the window, figuring it was her aunt Ginny coming in.

"Your hair still frizzes like a red head, but I still like it," Came a voice that sounded like it was trying not to laugh.

Rose turned and smiled, looking straight into the eyes of her wonderful boyfriend.

"Ha ha ha," She rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop smiling as he sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You really do look beautiful…" He said, twirling her frizzy hair around her fingers. "Any particular reason why I heard you shriek earlier? It scared me out of my mind."

"Oh…" She sighed, starting to blush. "I kind of rolled out of bed."

He started to laugh, and gently kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him, running her fingers through her hair. How had she gotten so lucky?

There was a soft knock at the door, and they instantly lurched apart as the door began to open. Rose blushed fiercely as Harry, poked his head in, obviously trying to contain laughter at seeing both of them blushing.

"Breakfast is ready if you two are… finished." He snickered, and left the room.

"Shall we go to breakfast m'lady?" Scorpius asked, offering her his hand.

"We shall my wonderful knight." She stood up, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

They walked down to breakfast hand in hand, and Rose was surprised at how happy she was not to have to hide their relationship. It was nice to see her wonderful Aunt and Uncle smiling at them without judgement.

"Morning," Rose smiled, sitting down next to Scorpius and smiling at Ginny and Harry.

Harry snickered under his breath, looking up at them. "Guys, I know Ron would appreciate me saying this… Please limit the kissing sessions in the bedroom to an absolute minimum." Harry started laughing, no longer being able to contain it as a bright red blush spread across both their faces.

"Harry," Ginny smacked his arm playfully, smiling as breakfast floated over to them with a wave of her wand.

They began eating, but Rose barely had one forkful of eggs in her mouth when the front door creaked open.

"Sorry I'm late!" She heard her father call out from the open door, her smile faltered as he entered the room and saw Scorpius.

Well shit.

Scorpius subtly moved his chair away from Rose. Judging by the look on Ron's face, he had no idea he was staying with the Potters too.

"Oh, I didn't know Scorpius was staying too… You just mentioned Rose when I talked to you yesterday." He said, a thin smile barely masking his frustration.

"Must have slipped my mind," Harry shrugged, and Ginny chuckled.

"Gosh, just sit down Ron and have some breakfast." She said, motioning to the only empty chair next to Scorpius. Ron reluctantly sat down.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Scorpius feeling more awkward by the minute.

"So… How have things been at the store?" Rose asked in an attempt to start some type of conversation.

"Fine I guess… Business has been pretty good." He grunted, shovelling another forkful of eggs into his mouth.

"You started a store Mr. Weasley?" Scorpius jumped in, honestly curious. Last time Scorpius knew, he had been working with Harry in the auror department.

"Being an auror just kind of grew old, and I never really had a huge amount of talent with it. I've recently started up a store in Diagon Alley selling wizard communication objects."

"That sounds really cool!" Scorpius said enthusiastically, trying really hard to please Mr. Weasley.

"It really is!" Rose chimed in, smiling at her dad, who smiled happily back at her. Scorpius felt a pang of worry for his dad, and hastily shoved another forkful of food in his mouth.

"So business has been good then?" Harry questioned, distracting Ron away from them.

Rose quickly smiled at him, and she rested a reassuring hand on his knee under the table. Scorpius smiled to himself. Maybe he could get on Mr. Weasley's good side after all… Or at least off his bad side.

The five of them chatted for a while, and Ron left after about an hour, even saying a small good-bye to Scorpius, and complimenting him on his knowledge of business economics.

As soon as they heard the "crack" of Ron apparating away, Harry and Ginny turned to them with slightly scolding looks.

"You're going to have to tell him Rose," Ginny said, tapping her foot, "It's not fair to keep him in the dark."

"I know," Rose sighed, flopping down on the couch. "We'll tell him when he comes down to pick me up in a couple days."

"And then Rose can come to my house to tell my mom… And hide out for a couple days." Scorpius smiled at Rose.

"Now Rose, don't you take off on your dad… You know that won't help anything." Harry advised solemnly.

"Try to be understanding about his situation Rose, the Malfoys were responsible for a lot in the war, and Ron has a hard time letting things go." Ginny said, sitting down on a chair across from Rose.

"We'll just have to show him how awesome I am." Scorpius smiled, but Rose only returned his smile half-heartedly.

"Well, I'm going to go do some work in my office," Harry said, standing up and leaving the room, Ginny following close behind him.

Scorpius wrapped his arms around Rose, and she leaned against his shoulder. "What's wrong?" He murmured, concern obvious in his voice.

"My dad," She whispered, "He's never going to be able to see what an awesome guy you are."

"Your dad isn't heartless Rose… You saw him today, he was only mildly unfriendly instead of completely hostile."

"That's when he thought you were just a friend, and he obviously still isn't super thrilled about that… You're going to have to deal with Normal-Protective-Dad and Completely-Prejudiced-Dad at the same time, and I feel completely awful about you having to deal with that." She sighed, looking up at him with a sad look in her eyes, almost like she was offering him the option to back out if he wanted to.

"Rose, I would face an entire death eater army if I had to in order to be with you." He smiled, and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"You're amazing," She sighed.

Emily looked at the letter, and frantically scribbled out a reply as tears welled in her eyes.

_TF_

_ How could you do this? _

_I know you are probably beyond guilt at this point, but how could you do this to friends, family and those you care about? I never believed this could ever happen to you._

_ I will not accept your offer, and will stand against you and the deatheaters' twisted ideas. It is literally killing me inside to be put against you like this, and I can't believe you would ever do that to me. _

_ As of this letter you will hear from me no more, and don't even think about trying to bring me into this twisted plot of yours. As of right now we are no longer family or friends and I'm moving on from any affection I have for you._

_ You made your choice, now I'm making mine._

_E_

She tied the letter to her owl's leg, fumbling with the tie as tears blurred her vision.

She ran from the Owlery, tears flowing freely as her feet carried her forwards. She didn't care where she was going, and she didn't care; she just needed to get away from everything and everyone.

She soon found herself in some garden past Hagrid's Hut, and collapsed onto the ground, leaning back against a large purple plant. She sat there and cried for what seemed like forever… Just wanting the hurt to go away.

"Hello? Is someone there?" She heard someone call, but she just ignored them, staring off into space.

How could he have done this to her? Forced her to choose between her friends, and him? Did he care about her at all?

"Ummm, are you okay?" She a voice asked, and she flinched, startled at how they had snuck up so close to her.

"I'm fine, go away." She said, frantically trying to wipe her eyes.

"You don't look fine," He said awkwardly, sitting down next to her. She looked up, curious at who was so concerned that she wasn't okay.

"James?" She cried, absolutely shocked. Why did _James _give a shit about

whether or not she was okay? "What are you doing here?"

"I come here to a lot when I need to get away, and then I heard you crying so I thought I would see if you're okay." He said, looking her straight in the eyes.

"No offense, but why do you care? You kind of hate all of us,"

"I don't hate you guys, Beth does… And I wanted to… Ummm… support her I guess." He stuttered, looking down at his shoes. "I actually dont't think you guys are half bad, and I feel kind of bad about how Beth and I have treated you."

Oh. My. Gosh.

James was apologizing? And actually talking to her? A day could only get so weird.

"Actions speak louder than words." She said, looking him straight in the eye.

"I know," He said, his eyes boring into hers.

And he bent down and kissed her.

She didn't pull back, too shocked to even think about what was happening. And within a couple seconds she realized she didn't one hundred percent want to pull away…

And he was on his feet, his face white as a ghost, and his eyes looking scared. Emily just sat there, in a shocked silence not knowing what to do.

James started backing away, staring at her. "Don't tell," He whispered and took off up the hill.

Thoughts started sifting through Emily's head, and she struggled to sort them out.

Number One:

She desperately wanted TF to change his mind, but knew she needed to accept that he never would.

Number Two:

She needed to tell Rose what James had said,

Number Three:

James had kissed her.

Number Four:

JAMES FREAKING POTTER HAD KISSED HER! And she had to admit that she kind of liked it…

And Number Five:

She really wanted to see James again.

Yup, this day really sucked.

AN: I honestly really loved writing that chapter… I really felt inspired to write it, and I just love this chapter in general

Please review! And I hope to update soon!


	11. Year 6 Trouble At the Ministry

Chapter 11 Trouble At the Ministry

Scorpius awoke the next morning to find Rose and Harry already awake and dressed to go to the ministry. Harry had invited them the night before, and Scorpius was surprised with how excited he actually was to see the auror office. He threw on a jacket as they walked out the door and Harry led them into the backyard.

"Scorpius, have you ever used side-along apparation?" He questioned.

"Yes," Scorpius answered quickly. Harry held out both his arms and Rose and Scorpius clutched his arm tight with both hands.

"Here we go…" He heard Harry say, and everything went dark.

Even though Scorpius had apparated many times, he still wasn't used to the compressing sensation that came with apparation. He felt as though he was being pushed into a dark tube with no light at the other end. A feeling of fear came over him, and just as he thought he couldn't stand it anymore…

It stopped.

He opened his eyes to find himself in a large room full of people. Large _cracks_ sounded every couple seconds as witches and wizards apparated into the room. Several people looked at the three of them curiously, obviously questioning why two Hogwarts students were at the ministry while school was still in.

As many of the stares traveled to Scorpius, recognition showed on many faces. People began whispering to one another as they three of them walked through the crowded room.

_"…The Family's never changed…"_

_ "… Shame, thought Draco had turned around…"_

_ "… Malfoy name will never be cleared…"_

_ "… Just like old Lucius…"_

_ "…He's exactly like them…"_

Scorpius clenched his fists and turned to Rose with a look of sadness and frustration in his eyes. People stopped talking as Harry walked by, giving them stern looks as he passed. Although Scorpius was grateful, he wished he could do something about the gossiping witches and wizards himself. He was just about to say something when he was swept into the crowded elevator.

Scorpius vaguely recognized several people that his father had introduced him to at one of their many dinner parties. The elevator stopped to let people on and off at nearly every floor and Scorpius recognized his father's friend, Blaise Zabini, enter the elevator.

"How's it going Blaise?" Harry greeted the tall, dark skinned man behind Rose, Rose and Scorpius both turning to look at him.

"Not bad Harry, though magical law enforcement has been rather crazy lately… With all the recent stuff that's gone on, there are idiots all over the place just looking for a laugh. It's been a rather large pain in the arse." He laughed, his eyes slowly travelling to Scorpius.

"Scorpius!" He exclaimed, reaching out to shake his hand. Scorpius gripped his hand firmly and smiled at the familiar face. "Why aren't you at Hogwarts Scorp?"

"I'm just staying with the Potters for a little bit," He smiled and Blaise turned to look at Rose.

"That isn't little Rose Weasley, is it?" He leaned down to look her in the eyes. "Merlin's beard, it is! Goodness you've grown up! I haven't seen you since you were about ten years old! Is Ron here today?"

"Nope," Rose smiled, a look of slight confusion on her face. "I'm here with Uncle Harry today."

The elevator came to a halt, and Harry gestured for Rose and Scorpius to exit the elevator.

"See you around Harry, Rose, Scorp." Blaise smiled at Rose and Scorpius as they exited the elevator.

"Later Blaise, maybe we can have dinner sometime?" Harry smiled back at him.

"For sure!" Blaise called as the golden elevator pulled away.

As Scorpius, his jaw almost dropped at the magnificent sight of the auror department. The large, high ceilinged room was pentagonal, like that knock-off defense office American muggles had.

There was large pillars all around the room with gold decals all the way up them. Intricate tapestries depicting historic wizard battles adorned the walls. They walked to a large door at the center of the far wall, where the head of department's office was located.

Rose and Scorpius stopped in their tracks and Scorpius heard Rose gasp as they looked up towards the high ceiling.

The largest tapestry of all hung above Harry's office. The "golden trio" stood depicted in the middle of it, with depictions of events in the battle all around it. Pictures of Harry, Ron and Hermione destroying horcruxes, and facing off Voldemort and deatheaters wrapped around the large central picture.

Scorpius's eyes traveled to the bottom of the huge tapestry. Bordering the bottom was a memorial of all those lost in the battle. Pictures of Albus Dumbledore, Remus and Nymphadora Lupin and Dobby the house elf were among the small pictures. It actually made Scorpius want to tear up a little bit.

"Wow," Rose gasped, a tear in the corner of her eye. She wiped it away quickly, but Harry put his arm around her all the same.

"It's okay to cry Rose," He said wisely. "The battle was definitely a cry-worthy experience and I can tell you that first hand." A faint smile crossed Harry's face and he pulled her into a hug.

"But you need to remember to celebrate the lives of those who died, instead of constantly mourning their deaths." He released Rose, smiled at her and walked into his office.

Scorpius stood there for a moment as Rose followed him. He was in awe at Harry's wisdom and general happiness after all he had gone through. Scorpius knew he wouldn't have fared nearly as well as Harry Potter had.

Snapping out of his trance, Scorpius hurried into the office.

The office was nothing extraordinary compared to the rest of the department. Several picture frames filled with pictures of the Potter family, Weaslys and Harry's parents sat on the desk and on the numerous bookshelves. Other than the personal touches, there was nothing different about the room compared to other offices.

Scorpius sat down next to Rose, who was listening to Harry explaining several cases he was currently working on.

"Numerous crimes have been taking place lately, but most of them are small… Individual witches and wizards toying with other witches and wizards. The number of the crimes is out of the ordinary, but the crimes themselves aren't." He said, showing her numerous crime files on his desk.

"They aren't related to Lucius are they?" Scorpius questioned with worry.

"That's what we suspected originally," Harry answered, passing the files over to Scorpius who began to look through them.

"But they are too disjointed for reasonable suspicion… If you look at the victims," Harry pointed at a box at the bottom of the fact sheets. "There is absolutely no relation between them that we can tell. The targets are pure-blood, half-blood and muggle-born wizards. They are male, female and all ages."

"So why the sudden spike in crime then?" Rose questioned, her brows furrowed in concentration.

"It's possible Lucius's actions are just making people braver about crime, even though the crimes themselves are unrelated."

"It makes sense," Scorpius nodded, looking at the victims listed in the files. There was no relation that he could tell, and he had known Lucius since he was born.

"Can I see those?" Rose motioned for the files and Scorpius handed them over. She pulled out a note pad and began listing the victims under the headings "Pure-Blood, Half-Blood, Muggle-Born and Muggle."

Harry gave her a slight look of humour, and went back to the largest folder on the desk.

"Is that a folder for Lucius?" He questioned pulling his chair to sit down in front of him.

"Yes," Harry sighed, running his fingers through his hair tiredly. "And I'm afraid we aren't getting very far on it. We talked to you grandmother and she said she had no idea about his whereabouts even after taking veritaserum."

"Grandma never did really agree with what grandfather did," Scorpius said, "Do you have any leads on my dad?"

"None at all," Harry said sadly and Scorpius tried his best to hide his disappointment. "Lucius is very good at keeping things quiet, he's left us nothing to follow."

He looked up at Scorpius, a serious look in his face. "We will find him Scorpius, I will promise you that."

"I know you're doing the best you can," Scorpius tried to smile back. He turned to see Rose finishing up the list of over forty victims of the numerous small crimes.

"Find anything Rose?" Harry asked her, trying not to smile. She held up a finger, signaling him to wait.

Scorpius looked around the office as Harry worked. He was starting to get bored, when he saw a silver mist slither in through the window.

"What's tha…?" He started to question when a strange, scratchy voice started whispering from the mist. Harry and Rose both jumped up and looked around, their eyes stopping on the strange mist.

"_He's coming… Lucius is coming… Stop… Him…"_

Scorpius instantly recognized the voice.

"It's my dad," He whispered and Harry and Rose both stared at him for a moment.

Harry sprang into action. He pressed his wand to his throat, and his voice began to echo throughout the entire ministry.

"We have received a reliable tip that Lucius is coming to the ministry. All aurors need to guard the entrances, and all wizards will need to be ready to guard their floors if necessary." His voice boomed.

"Stay here!" He yelled to Rose and Scorpius as he ran out the door.

Rose ran over to the desk and began pouring over her list again. Scorpius stood behind and began rubbing her shoulders to calm himself. There was no way Lucius could get in the ministry…

Right?

"Damn it Scorpius!" She yelled throwing a book on the table. Scorpius jumped back in surprise, wondering what he had done wrong.

"They're all connected… I know it!" She yelled, slamming her fist down in frustration. "I just can't figure out how."

"It's okay, you'll get it…" He started. "You're really…"

"Shut up," She said suddenly and began cutting out the names on the sheet. Once she had them all cut out she began frantically arranging them.

"Go get me one of those history books on family trees." She said without looking up. He ran over to a large book shelf and grabbed the first thing I found on family trees. He put the book down in front of Rose and she immediately flipped to the page on Voldemort's first uprising.

"Look here!" She exclaimed, pointing to the family trees of known Order of the Pheonix members. "All of the victims have the names of Order members! Not their well-known names, since that would be too obvious, but names somehow related to Order members!"

He looked down at the list in front of her, which she had alphabetized by last name. She pointed to the first name "Britney Adams," Who was a half-blood wizard. Then she pointed to a name in the book.

"Alice Adams, who became Alice Longbottom when she married Professor Neville's father." She said excitedly.

She pointed to another name down the list, "Kimberly Evans," She stated than pointed in the books. "Lily Evans, who later married and became Lily Potter… I'm surprised Harry didn't pick that one out."

She continued going down the list, and every person on it had a name that somehow related to an order member in the First Wizarding War.

"It's a warning of sorts," She said looking up with excitement on her face, but the expression quickly turned serious. "He's not only going after people from the last battle, he's going after the families of those who were against Voldemort originally too! We have to tell Uncle Harry…"

Rose made it half way to the door before he grabbed her arm. "Lucius is coming, and your uncle said to stay right here."

"I hate being under age," She grumbled, sitting down in a chair.

"Me too," He agreed, standing behind her and rubbing her shoulders again.

We sat in silence for a moment, and she started fidgeting with her wand and muttering things to herself.

Someone screamed.

She jumped up, and both of them whipped their wands out, facing the door readily. She looked at me, a scared but confident look in her eyes and he reached out and grabbed her hand. Whatever was out there, we were taking it on together.

Scorpius heard spells being cast outside the doors and they both crept closer to the door, waiting for a good moment to leave.

Fortunately, they didn't have to decide when to leave because within ten seconds the door was blasted off its hinges, knocking both of them back a few feet.

Scorpius jumped to his feet and moved to stand in front of Rose, who was struggling to move a piece of debris off her skirt. He pointed my wand at the door, and tried not to shake with the stomach clenching fear he was feeling.

A rugged man stepped out from the settling cloud of dust that remained in the doorway, his wand held lazily in his hand. Scorpius didn't recognize him.

"Stop right there," Rose said, her firm voice only shaking a little, as she stood up next to Scorpius. "I'll blast you if I have to."

"Shu' up girlie," He drawled, pointing his wand at Rose. Scorpius stepped in front of her slightly.

"Don't you dare point your wand at her." Scorpius said as confidently as he could manage.

"Oi! Tha' isn't li'l Scorpius is it? Lucius said 'e was lookin' for you two… 'As big plans for you 'e does… After 'e takes care of 'Arry Potter tha' is." He said menacingly, taking a step towards them.

Scorpius chanced a quick glance at Rose and saw her looking at him hopefully.

"_Play along…" _She mouthed.

"Ha!" She began to laugh loudly and Scorpius chuckled with her, wondering what in Merlin's beard she was doing. "You really think your little band of death eaters can take care of the Boy Who Lived? He vanquished Voldemort!"

"Well we can take care of 'im! Lucius 'as connections, you know!" He cried arrogantly.

"Unless he had a huge organized army, and connections in the ministry Lucius would never be able to pull it off." She said with a wave of her hand.

"But 'e does! Folks in 'Arry Potter's own depar'ment are on our side!" He leaned in and whispered, " 'E has plans to lure 'im to the basement an' kill 'im tonight!"

A look of concern crossed the man's face and he stepped back and looked at them menacingly. "You tricked me!" He cried pointing his wand at Scorpius. "Cru…"

A look of panic crossed Rose's face, but almost instantly turned into a sultry smile.

"Wow," Rose breathed, taking a step towards him. The man looked at her with curiosity.

"What's 'Wow?'" He asked.

"You," She said seductively, walking towards him. "I've always loved the bad-boy look… How old are you? Eighteen?" She smiled as she neared him. He just looked at her, his face portraying the same shock Scorpius was feeling.

"Y-Yeah," He stuttered.

She put her arms around his neck, and looked at Scorpius over his shoulder.

"_Blast him," _She mouthed, and Scorpius understood.

"I love it when guys look so rugged… It's so sexy…" She continued, waving at Scorpius to cast the spell from over his shoulder.

He held up his wand, but it slipped out of his fingers and clattered to the ground.

Scorpius lunged for the wand as the man began to turn around…

"What…?" He began and a look of panic crossed Rose's face. She looked down at Scorpius momentarily, then grabbed the man's face in her hands…

And kissed him.

Scorpius stopped in shock for a moment, but as he saw the man put his arms around Rose's neck he grabbed his wand and pointed it at the man.

"Stupefy!" He cried.

The man was blasted into the wall behind them and knocked out cold.

Rose scrunched up her nose and began wiping her mouth frantically with her fingers. "Ew! That was completely disgusting…"

"Let me take care of that," Scorpius laughed and he pulled her close to him and kissed her.

They pulled away after a few moments, Rose smiling sweetly. "Much better," She said.

They stood there, staring into each other's eyes for a moment. After a minute Rose jumped away, and pulled her wand out of her pocket. "We have to go warn Harry! Lucius is going to kill him!"

Scorpius grabbed her hand, and they sprinted through the auror department, leaping over rubble as they went.

They reached the elevator, and Rose punched the button for the main floor.

"Oh… My… Gosh…" She panted, and Scorpius wrapped his arms protectively around her as the elevator sped downwards.

They burst through the main doors, and saw a large group of deatheaters circled by the aurors. The aurors were shooting disarming curses at the deatheaters, and they didn't even notice Rose and Scorpius sprint past them towards the only entrance to the courtrooms in the basement of the ministry. As they reached the top of the stairs, Scorpius felt Rose sharply pull him to a stop, and she began fumbling in the pocket of her skirt. She pulled out a strange, translucent fabric, and looked him in the eyes.

"It's Uncle Harry's invisibility cloak, he gave it to James, and with this whole Lucius thing going on, I kind of…. Borrowed…. It from his room." She whispered and tossed it over the two of them.

"You're brilliant," Scorpius breathed.

"I know, now duck so your feet aren't showing you idiot."

"Shit!" Rose said suddenly. "They'll hear our footsteps! Take off your shoes!" He kicked off his dress shoes, and she kicked off the ridiculous heels she had somehow managed to run in.

Rose drew her wand and pointed it at the shoes, muttering something under her breath. The four shoes transfigured into pieces of rubble, and they set off into the basement.

The long corridor was eerily silent, and they walked for almost five minutes without finding anything. They were almost at the end of the corridor, and still hadn't seen any signs Scorpius or Lucius had been there. Worry knotted his stomach as he wondered if they had been misinformed… Or were too late.

"Give it up Lucius, we have all your followers captured upstairs right in this instant, it's over." They heard Harry say calmly.

"It's not over until I say so Potter." He snarled and fired a curse in Harry's direction. Harry took a step back, but easily deflected Lucius's curse.

They crept closer in order to get a closer shot at Lucius, as he continued shooting curses at Harry. They weren't powerful, but Lucius was shooting them off so quickly, all Harry could do was deflect it and back up.

Scorpius stared at Lucius intently, until Rose elbowed him gently.

"Look near Harry's feet," She breathed, and his gaze traveled down to Harry's feet.

There was a thin shimmering line reaching from wall to wall. Scorpius had never seen magic used like that before.

"It's a magical trip wire," Rose whispered, "We can't let Harry back into it."

They circled around to Harry as he continued to retreat towards the nearly invisible magical line.

An unexpected killing curse flew towards Harry and he stumbled backwards towards the wire. Scorpius lept out from under the cloak and rammed into Harry, pushing him away from whatever magic Lucius had place.

Rose aimed a curse at Lucius, and he was knocked to the ground.

"You little bitch," He snarled, crawling backwards. "I'm not done with you yet."

And he disappeared.

There was no noise of apparation or trace of any other type of magical travel, he simply disappeared.

Harry looked up at the two of them in shock. "I told you guys to stay upstairs! How in Merlin's beard did you discover I was down here and why did you just shove me over Scorpius?"

"We found out Lucius was luring you down here by… Ummmm… Tricking it out of a deatheater upstairs." Scorpius saw Rose blush fiercely at the word "tricked." It had been a fair amount more than tricking, and he was guessing Harry didn't want to know what his innocent little niece was capable of.

"And I shoved you because you were about to stumble into some type of magical trip wire." Scorpius continued quickly, and Harry turned to see the shimmering cord.

Harry grabbed a piece of rubble and tossed it into the cord.

Killing curses shot out from several directions, all hitting where the cord had been breached.

"Well, thanks you two…" He said, pulling them both into a hug.

"You guys just saved my life."

**AN: **Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I had some serious writers block with this chapter, and I've had exams this week so it's been pretty crazy! Thank you to those of you have reviewed… And for those of you reading this, I would be eternally grateful if you give me another review to be excited about


	12. Year 6 Worries, Fears

Chapter 12 Worries, Fears and an Unexpected Visitor

The ministry was eerily quiet as Harry, Scorpius and Rose walked back up the stairs. Scorpius was talking excitedly to Harry about his dad sending the message, and Rose desperately wanted to be happy for him, but she couldn't get Lucius's words out of her head.

"_You little bitch… I'm not done with you yet."_

Fear clenched inside her stomach. Although she didn't want to admit it, she was terrified at the idea of being killed or tortured by Lucius, but even more than that she was scared about the people around her.

What if Lucius started targeting the people she cared about to get to her? She had gotten used to the idea of being used to get to Scorpius, but what if it turned out the other way around? That list had been targeting people from the original wizarding war, and Draco certainly wasn't, but Harry and her dad's parents were.

What if the attacks on Harry and Draco had just been a distraction?

Rose completely zoned out until Scorpius interrupted her thoughts.

"Um, Rose? Where are you going?"

"What?" She asked, her brain coming back to reality.

"Where are you going?" He repeated, "Harry said we're flooing home."

"Oh," She said, flashing Scorpius and Harry a small smile. "Sorry, I kind of zoned out."

"It's okay Rose," Harry said, putting his arm comfortingly around her. They walked in comfortable silence over to the row of fireplaces along one wall of the entrance to the ministry. Scorpius grabbed a handful of floo powder and passed it to Rose.

"Aren't you coming?" Rose inquired, noticing that Harry hadn't grabbed any floo powder.

"I have to help clean things up here and interrogate deatheaters… Can you please let Ginny know what's going on and let her know I probably won't be home for dinner?" He said with a smile.

"For sure Harry," Scorpius said. "Would you like to go first Rose?"

"You can go," She answered, and Scorpius stepped into the fireplace.

"The Potter's house!" He cried, and was engulfed in green flames.

"See you later Harry," Rose said softly, and gave him a quick hug and stepped into the fire place.

"The Potter's house!" She cried, and felt the familiar green flames lick up her legs. The flames were neither hot nor cold, and Rose had always found it a strange sensation.

Almost instantaneously she found herself stumbling out of the Potters' fireplace. She was surprised to find her mother and father sitting at the table.

Scorpius had already begun explaining the day's events, and Rose sat down beside him.

"… So Rose tricked the deatheater into letting us know Lucius's plans to kill Harry and we stunned him and took off towards the basement…" He reported, but Hermione cut him off.

"How did you trick a deatheater into giving away plans Rose? I doubt he was completely stupid… And I'm impressed you two managed to stun a deatheater." Hermione praised.

Rose blushed, "I just did a few basic tricks and used his ego to my advantage." She shrugged.

"Well I'm impressed… Continue Scorpius."

"We snuck into the basement and hid behind a pillar when we saw Lucius and Scorpius fighting…" Scorpius resumed, and Rose silently thanked him for leaving out the part about the invisibility cloak… She would have to explain that later.

"And Rose noticed some type of magical trip wire Harry was about to walk into, so I tackled Harry and Rose shot a curse at Lucius…. The Lucius just disappeared."

"What do you mean 'disappeared?' He apparated in the ministry? That's impossible." Ginny jumped in.

"That's the strangest thing." Rose began, "He didn't apparate, or use any type of recognizable magical travel. There was no trace of apparation, or flames or any other indication he used magic… He just disappeared."

"That's impossible," Ron scoffed, "Even wizards can't just vanish."

"Well it wasn't any type of magic I've seen before." Rose said.

"How strange…" Hermione said, looking like she was deep in thought.

"Rose," Ron commanded suddenly, "Why do you have dirt around your mouth?"

"We were just attacked dad, I have dirt all over my body." She snorted, but she noticed the disbelief in her dad's eyes.

"Did Lucius say anything before he 'disappeared?'" Hermione asked.

"Umm, yes," Rose cleared her throat. "He said, and I quote: 'You bitch, I'm not done with you yet."

Silence filled the room, and Rose saw mixes of anger, worry and confusion on people's faces. Her dad's face however, was pure fury.

"How dare that bastard say that to my baby girl?" He raged, standing up and pacing the room. "I'll kill him… I'll hunt him down and kill him… I'll dig his heart out with a spoon…"

Hermione, Ginny and Scorpius looked at her with concern, but her mother spoke first. "Are you okay sweetheart?"

"Yes," Rose lied slickly. "He comes anywhere near me, and I'll be ready for him."

Dinner was quiet that night even though Ron and Hermione stayed to eat. Everyone seemed lost in their own thoughts, and no one made a move to break the silence.

"When is everyone else finished Hogwarts for Christmas?" Rose finally asked, unable to take the quiet. The more she thought about the events of that day, the more nauseous she became.

"Everyone will be home tomorrow," Ginny answered, and everyone seemed to snap out of whatever thoughts they were in.

"And everyone is coming to the burrow for Christmas… You and Astoria are welcome to come as well Scorpius." Hermione smiled, and Scorpius looked taken aback.

"Really?" He questioned with a look of surprise plain on his face.

Hermione smiled again, "Of course, any friend of Rose is okay with us."

Ron grumbled something under his breath and Hermione kicked him under the table. Rose and Scorpius both tried to contain their laughter as her father blushed and mumbled an apology.

There was a knock at the door, and Ginny jumped up to answer it. "That's probably Harry."

"Oh my goodness!" They heard Ginny exclaim, "Everyone get in here!"

Everyone jumped up from the table, and Ron and Hermione whipped their wands out as they ran into the entry of the house.

Scorpius gasped in shock, and staggered into Rose who grabbed his arm to keep him from falling.

It was Draco Malfoy.

Draco stood there shaking like he was about to collapse and Ginny turned to Ron and began barking out orders. "Ron, let him lean on you and get him to the sofa!"

Ron slung Draco's arm over his shoulder and half dragged him onto the large sofa. Scorpius ran over to kneel beside the couch and took his father's hand. "Dad?" He whispered.

"Hello Scorpius," Draco rasped, smiling weakly.

"Ron, floo Harry and let him know what's going on! Rose get a face cloth damp with warm water and a glass of cold water!" Ron ran over to the fire place and Rose ran into the kitchen.

Ginny was a healer, and Hermione knew some basic healing, so when she returned with the few items, Draco was sleeping peacefully on the couch.

"I've done all I can do for now, and I think it's best if we just let him sleep." Ginny sighed and stood up, Hermione following suit. They left Rose and Scorpius alone in the room.

"Are you okay?" Rose whispered, kneeling down beside Scorpius.

"Yes actually, I'm just happy he's safe."

"I'm glad," Rose smiled and without thinking, she took his hand in hers and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"The real question is: Are you okay?" He turned his head to look at her, his eyes filled with concern. "Because I'm not buying your fake confidence."

Rose felt her unshed tears welling up in her eyes, partially in fear, and partially at Scorpius's genuine concern. "No, I'm really not… I'm worried for you, mom, dad, Harry, Hugo, Ginny and anyone else close to me. And as much as I want to admit, I'm scared he'll get me." Her voice dropped to a whisper at the end.

She started to sob, and Scopius took her into his arms. "Shhh, it's okay…" He attempted to sooth her, and gradually her sobs quieted.

She pulled back and looked up into his eyes. "I love you," Rose felt the enormity of the words rise up in her and she marveled at how quickly he had become such a big part of her life.

"I love you too," He smiled ecstatically, and without hesitation pressed his lips to hers. Rose melted into the kiss, and it was like all thoughts had left her brain… There was just her and Scorpius.

"Yes!" She heard someone squeal and then heard clapping. Rose and Scorpius jumped apart and turned around with worry.

Hermione was standing in the doorway, looking like a giddy schoolgirl jumping up and down with excitement. Rose looked at Scorpius with confusion.

"It's about time! I've been hoping you guys would end up together since you first became friends." She ran over and pulled them both into a hug.

"Are you kidding me?" Rose started to laugh. "We've been all worried and you were HOPING this would happen?"

"You guys were just so perfect for each other!" Hermione laughed, but then turned solemn. "I assume you are going to tell your father, because I don't mind keeping this a secret for a little while, but not indefinitely."

"Christmas," Scorpius smiled, "Is it okay if I bring my mom and dad to the burrow? I kind of want to make it an official announcement."

Rose suddenly looked around worriedly, "Speaking of dad, where is he?"

"Don't worry he's talking to Harry," She stood up and smiled slyly as she left the room, "But you may want to stop whatever you were doing."

Rose looked at Scorpius in shock, not believing what had just happened.

"Well that was an interesting turn of events." Rose smiled and Scorpius wiped the tears out of her eyes. She stood up and attempted to brush the dirt off her skirt. "Do you want to come with me? Or are you going to stay here?"

"I think I'll stay here for a little bit if you don't mind." Scorpius responded quietly, giving her a small smile. "Sleep well my love."

"You too my handsome knight." Rose whispered as she left the room, smiling until she fell into a deep sleep.

**AN:** I am so sorry that it has been so long since my last update! Rugby season just started, and school has been crazy so I haven't had a lot of time to write! Thanks to everyone who has kept with me this far, and I swear I will have another chapter up to the next few days. Virtual cookies to you all, and please review


	13. Year 6 Anticipation

Chapter 13- Anticipation

Rose's eyes fluttered open as light flooded through her thing curtains. Yawning heavily she rolled out of bed and lazed over to the bathroom to throw her hair in a quick pony-tail and brush her teeth. She glanced at the small hallway clock, and was shocked to see it was already two o'clock in the afternoon. She must have been really exhausted after the previous day's events.

Letting out another big yawn, she walked into the kitchen and went to pour herself some cereal, not realizing that Draco, Scorpius, Ginny and Harry were all sitting at the table.

"Morning Rose," Harry said, and Rose jumped, spilling cereal across the entire floor. She whipped around and saw the four of them sitting there and she felt heat rise to her cheeks.

They were all clean, showered, dressed and looked as if they were ready to go to some ritzy restaurant. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Rose glanced down at her old sweats and t-shirt that sported several large holes. She felt herself blush even deeper as she leaned down and picked up the spilled box of cereal.

"I'll grab the broom for you," Ginny giggled and stood up from the table.

"Sorry about that," Rose smiled as Ginny swept up the rest of the cereal. "I wasn't expecting you all here."

"No problem," Harry smiled and gestured to the empty chair beside Scorpius. "Why don't you sit down?"

Rose took a seat and began munching on her cereal as the rest of them talked.

"Harry, have you let Astoria know I'm home yet? I'm sure she must be worried sick." Draco questioned a touch of sadness in his voice over his wife's pain.

"We alerted her this morning." Harry said, "She should actually be her in about an hour."

"Thank you," Draco smiled tiredly at Harry.

"I'm happy to help Draco, and I want you to know that the ministry is doing everything they can to track down your father." Harry said and took a large gulp of coffee.

"Oh!" Rose cried suddenly and everyone turned to look at her. "I completely forgot to tell you yesterday with everything that happened, but I figured out what everyone on your victim's list had in common! Uncle Harry, everyone on that list had a name that related to someone that was involved in the original wizarding war."

"It's true!" Scorpius chimed in, "I saw all the names on the list and the family tree book… They all matched up." Scorpius smiled and Rose smiled back.

"Lucius isn't just targeting people from the last wizarding war he's targeting people from the original wizarding war too! I think the smaller crimes are some type of clue about what's to come."

"That's brilliant Rose!" Ginny exclaimed and gave her a huge smile.

"Do you know if this is true?" Harry questioned Draco.

"I was honestly kept out of most planning like that… Deatheaters don't tend to tell their hostages their plans." He smiled half-heartedly. "But from what I know about my father, I can tell you that it is likely."

"I have to go to the ministry right away." Harry jumped up and started heading towards the front door. "Don't forget that you guys have extra ministry protection so there may be a ministry wizard tailing you if you decide to go anywhere… See you guys later!" The door closed, and he was gone.

"I have to go to King's Cross to get your cousins Rose, will you three be okay until I get back?" Ginny questioned and Scorpius, Rose and Draco all nodded their heads. "Okay, see you soon!" And she was gone.

Rose stood up and put her bowl in the sink and Scorpius couldn't help but admire her. Even though she was hidden by those ratty sweats she enjoyed so much, you could still see her curvaceous body and beautiful raven black hair.

"Well, I'm going to go get changed." She blushed slightly and hurried up the stairs.

Scorpius watched her scurry up the stairs, and then turned to look at his father, who was grinning broadly.

"What?" Scorpius questioned, confused at why his father was looking at him like that.

"Son," He started and let out a low chuckle. "You got it bad."

"W-what?" Scorpius stuttered, blushing furiously. Had he really been that obvious looking at Rose?

"You look at her like you're a little lost puppy dog. Does she know? Or are you still just 'friends'?" He smiled, leaning towards Scorpius over the table.

"We were going to tell you on Christmas Eve tomorrow." He mumbled. "The Potters invited us to go over to the Weasley's house for Christmas."

"Well then I'll just pretend that none of this ever happened." He smiled, and flicked his wand so the dishes in the sink started cleaning themselves.

Rose walked down the stairs, dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans and an emerald green tank-top. Her black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but her bangs were left down so the purple streaks in her hair were glaringly obvious. Scorpius was careful not to look at her too long.

"Well don't you look nice Rose!" Draco smiled, "Nice use of Slytherin green."

"Thanks Draco," She laughed, "James gets home today and I thought the green would drive him crazy."

"Nice," Scorpius smiled and the three of them began to laugh.

"So are you guys coming over on Christmas Eve tomorrow?" Rose questioned, pulling out a pack of muggle gum and popping a piece into her mouth.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Scorpius smiled, "I think mom is going to meet us here today actually."

"Awesome," Rose smiled, "This will be the best Christmas ever."

Rose sat on the couch with Draco and Scorpius, watching some muggle TV show on Harry's big television set when Ginny walked in.

"Rose? Scorpius? Draco? We're home!" She called.

"In here." Rose yelled back, not bothering to get up off the couch.

Ginny walked into the room, followed by James, Albus and Lily. Lily smiled widely at Rose, while James and Albus just stood there sulking.

"Rose!" Lily exclaimed, and ran over to give her a hug.

"Hey Lil," Rose smiled. "How's your fourth year going?"

"Awesome!" Lily smiled radiantly. She whispered in Rose's ear as she gave her another hug. "I have something to tell you later!"

"Okay," Rose whispered back. Lily grabbed her trunk and carried it up to her room.

"Hi James, Albus," Rose said, trying to sound chipper.

"Hey guys," Albus mumbled and the two of them grabbed their trunks and hurried up the stairs.

"Sorry about that," Ginny apologized with a sigh.

"It's no problem." Scorpius assured her, and the four of them pretended to watch the TV show, all lost in thought.

Astoria had arrived right before dinner, and Harry had come back shortly after. With Draco's new information they were beginning to track down Lucius… A fact that both reassured and scared Rose. As much as she wanted that evil man found, she didn't want her uncle anywhere near him.

They were now sitting down for dinner, and awkward silence looming in the air. James and Albus were still sulking, and no one seemed to know how to break the silence.

"Rose, are OWL's really as hard as everyone says they are?" Lily asked with worry.

Lily had confessed to her earlier that she has been asked to Hogsmede by a fifth year Gryffindor boy, Mike Thomas. Rose almost laughed at how excited she was. Unfortunately, Rose had been specifically instructed not to tell anyone, because Lily didn't want her parents to find out unless it turned into something "serious."

"Lily, you're a straight O student… You have nothing to worry about." Rose smiled.

"They really aren't that bad," Astoria chimed in, "And you have a far better teacher in charge than we did in our fifth year."

"Umbridge," Harry shuddered, and Astoria, Draco and Ginny began to laugh.

"I can't believe I ever admired that woman!" Draco shook his head and everyone began to laugh again.

After that, dinner went smoothly and without too much trouble (Aside from a few Slytherin comments from James and Albus). And soon everyone except Rose and Scorpius headed up to their rooms for bed.

"Are you coming Rose?" Ginny asked as she flicked her wand and began turning out the lights.

"I think Scorp and I are going to watch some TV if that's okay… I'm not really tired." Rose smiled.

"Okay, see you two in the morning."

As soon as they heard the upstairs door close, Rose moved to lay across Scorpius's chest.

"My dad found out about us you know." Scorpius whispered after a few moments. "Apparently I need to be more discreet when I'm admiring how beautiful you are."

Rose laughed softly, "I'm going to assume that he's okay with us since you're not freaking out right now."

"He was fine with it," Scorpius smiled and he turned his head to kiss her.

Rose turned and wrapped her arms around him pressing herself even closer to him. Scorpius deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. After a few minutes, Rose pulled away to look at him.

"Scorpius… Someone might hear us. I should probably go to bed." She whispered, a look of longing plain on her face.

"Okay," Scorpius smiled.

"And get a good sleep," She gave him one last kiss before she started to walk away. "Tomorrow you're going into the Lion's Den."

**AN: **Yay! Another chapter! I'm sorry this one was shorter, but it was just a filler chapter to set things up for the next one… The next chapter is the Christmas chapter! Get ready for some serious drama!

Please review!


	14. Year 6 Turmoil on Christmas Eve

Chapter 14

Turmoil on Christmas Eve

Scorpius woke up the next morning feeling like he hadn't slept at all. He had been tossing and turning all night and his head was already pounding.

Today was the day; the day he and Rose would finally tell her dad and the rest of the Weasleys about their relationship.

Although he would never admit it to Rose, he desperately wanted approval from both of her parents. He knew it was probably an impossibility to impress Ron, but most of all he didn't want to create turmoil in Rose's family.

Sighing, he got up and looked at the clock. It was just past seven in the morning, and no one else was up. As quietly as possible, he tiptoed over to Rose's bedroom.

The door creaked slightly as he opened it, but no one in the house seemed to stir. He walked into the room and glanced at the bed, instantly realizing Rose wasn't in it.

"Hey handsome," She heard a whisper from the other side of the room. He looked over to see her sitting on the window seat, smiling at him. She had dark circles under her eyes. Obviously she hadn't slept any more than he had.

"Good morning beautiful," He said tenderly. He lay down next to her and she moved over to lie across his chest. "I take it you didn't sleep much either."

"No, I didn't." She looked him deep in the eyes, worry plain across her face. "I'm not going to lie, I'm scared as Hell about telling my dad and the rest of the family."

"I know, Rose… But Ron will come around eventually. What's a relationship without some healthy disapproval?" He chuckled, and Rose laughed lightly, relaxing into him.

After a few moments she sat up and took his face in her hands. "Scorpius, no matter what happens today, I still love you. I won't lose you because of my father."

"I would face down Lord Voldemort for you… Your father isn't going to scare me away." He gently caressed her cheek with his hand, sat up, and gave her a quick kiss. "I love you."

"Well, you don't have to vanquish Voldemort, but I do need help picking something to wear." He groaned as she jumped up and fled to her closet, pulling out a knit, long-sleeved, green dress. She tossed it at him and then pulled a pair of jeans and a green sweater.

"The jeans and shirt or the dress?" She questioned.

Scorpius scratched his head for a minute. "Ummm… The dress?" He asked cautiously.

"The dress it is." She smiled. "Now we have to pick out something for you so we'll match."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him into his room. He stood in the middle of the room while she started rifling through his trunk, throwing clothes everywhere.

"Too formal, too casual…" She mumbled with each clothing article she threw to the floor.

"Rose," Scorpius complained as he began picking up all his clothes. "Don't unpack everything I have!"

Finally as she reached the bottom she pulled out a white dress shirt, black dress pants and a green tie. "Here," She thrust the clothes at him. "I have to change… Be right back."

Once she ran out of the room he began pulling on the clothes Rose had given him. "We aren't even married and she's already ordering me around." He chuckled under his breath.

He came downstairs to find the rest of the Potters dressed and ready to go. Scorpius stood next to Rose in their matching green ensembles, and he noticed that James and Albus were both sporting bright red and gold. Lily had chosen a neutral black dress and was looking very awkward standing in between them.

Draco ran his hand through his hair just like Scorpius did when he was slightly nervous, but Harry was the first one to break the silence. "Okay, so you can all floo over there… Make sure you say 'The Burrow' very clearly. James you can go first."

James grabbed a handful of floo powder and exclaimed, "The Burrow!" The familiar green flames instantly engulfed him.

The rest of the family followed suit until Rose and Scorpius were standing there all alone.

"No matter what happens today Scorpius, I love you." Rose whispered.

"I love you too beautiful, and not even an angry Weasley can change that." He smiled and placed a tender kiss on her lips.

Rose grabbed a handful of floo powder and stepped into the fireplace. "The Burrow!" She exclaimed and disappeared in a burst of green flames.

Scorpius hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath and stepped into the fire place. As he yelled, "The Burrow!" a million thoughts flashed through his mind, however one thing really stuck out…. _Rose._

Scorpius emerged through the fireplace to an already noisy house. Ron, Hermione and Hugo were already there, as well as Victoire and Teddy, Dominique, Louis and Bill and Fleur. George and Angelina stood with Fred and Roxanne on one side of the room. Scorpius remembered talk about Percy and his wife and kids not arriving until supper, along with still-single Charlie Weasley. He searched the crowd to see Rose talking animatedly to Victoire and Teddy.

"You and Teddy are getting married? That's amazing Victoire!" She exclaimed as Scorpius came and stood beside her.

"Victoire, Teddy this is Scorpius." Rose said.

"I remember this charming young man." Victoire smiled, and Teddy leaned forward to shake Scorpius's hand.

"Nice to meet you." Teddy smiled. "I've heard lots of good things about you from the Potters."

Scorpius felt a feeling of happiness spreading through him. The Potters had really talked about him? And positively too? Maybe today wouldn't be as bad as he thought…

"Hey Scorpius! Teddy!" He turned around and saw Bill waving him over to where all the guys seemed to standing. We need the guys to help set up our tent outside for dinner!"

"Have fun." Rose chuckled as Scorpius slowly walked over to where the guys were standing. He looked over to see that his father was standing with the other guys, looking slightly awkward.

Teddy clapped Scorpius on the back and the two of them followed the rest of the guys out into the yard.

They all had their wands out, and were starting to lift a large tent onto the large stakes in the ground. Scorpius walked over to where Hugo and Albus were standing, the three of them being unable to use magic.

"You three!" Harry called, "Go inside and grab the tables from the dining room. Put those muggle muscles to work!" All the grown men started to laugh, James the loudest of all. All three younger boys blushed and headed inside.

With the use of magic, the large tent was ready for dinner in less than an hour and all the Weasley and Potter ladies began bringing out food. Scorpius almost giggled at how different Rose was compared to the rest of them. Her dark green, tight-fit knit dress was a huge contrast to the girly dresses all the other girls had on… Except Dominique of course.

Draco, Astoria and Scorpius sat next to Rose and her family at the table, followed by the Potters and the rest of the Weasleys. As the family said grace, everyone joined hands and Scorpius felt Rose squeeze his tightly. After this meal, they would tell everyone.

Now, Christmas dinner with the Weasley and Potter clans were not quiet, civil dinners. With that many people talking you had to almost yell just to be heard by the person sitting across from you. Someone called for a bun from the other side of the table, and Ron quickly picked it up and threw it at him.

"Ron Weasley!" His mother exclaimed, "All these years and you still haven't learned any manners!"

Even though it was hectic, Scorpius had to admit he liked the sense of family he felt with these people.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Rose nearly yelled in his ear.

"Surprisingly, yes!" He called back.

"What about you Mister and Missus Malfoy?" She yelled at his parents.

"We told you call us Draco and Astoria!" Draco yelled back.

"And we're having a wonderful time!" Astoria shouted. "You have a wonderful family!"

Harry stood up and began clanging his spoon on his glass to get everyone's attention. When no one stopped talking he pressed his wand to his throat, and his voice echoed across the table.

"Everyone listen up!" Harry boomed. Then turned to look at the Malfoys as everyone quieted. "Thank you. I would just like to give a toast to the Malfoys in honour of everything they've been through. I'm very happy they could come tonight!"

He smiled widely and raised his glass. "To the Malfoys!"

Everyone raised their glass and took a large drink of either butterbeer or firewhisky.

Rose stood up next. "I would like to have a toast for Victoire and Teddy! To our newly engaged couple!" She raised he glass and everyone took a sip.

Draco stood up hesitantly, looking extremely self-conscious. He cleared his throat awkwardly and spoke. "I would like to thank the Potters for being so compassionate towards my family and I over the past few months, so I would like to propose a toast to the Potters." He rose his glass hesitantly. "To the Potters!"

Everyone else echoed his toast, and he seemed physically relieved as he sat down. Astoria put her hand lovingly on his arm and smiled warmly at him, to which he smiled back. Scorpius hoped desperately that he and Rose could be like that someday.

Dinner progressed without any further interruptions and Scorpius felt himself begin to grow more nervous as it came to an end. Everyone brought their plates inside, and went to go squish into the family room.

It was time.

Scorpius strategically took a place next to Rose, across from her mom and dad, but next to his family and the Potters.

As everyone settled down Scorpius loudly cleared his throat. "Okay, ummm, everyone… Before we get started, Rose and I have s-something to say." He stuttered, cursing his awkwardness.

The whole room was silent.

"Well there's really no other way to say this," Rose said confidently and took Scorpius's hand. "Scorpius and I are officially a couple."

There was a pregnant silence and then Ron jumped up, "You sure as Hell are not!"

"Mr. Weasley," Scorpius began calmly, "I really care for your daughter. In fact I even lo…"

"So help me do NOT say you love her." He raged.

"Its true dad!" Rose said a little louder, her Weasley temper starting to flare up.

"Five galleons on Rose," Scorpius heard George Weasley whisper from the corner.

"You're on," He heard Charlie whisper back.

"No its not! Rose how could you be stupid enough to think this boy actually loves you?" He shouted.

"Ron," Hermione cautioned sternly, but the damage had already been done.

Rose jumped up, letting go of Scorpius' hand and to get right in her dad's face. "I'm stupid? You didn't even tell mom you loved her until seventh year! You just sat there and snogged Lavendar Brown! Not to mention how you left her when you guys were searching for horcruxes!"

There was a quiet gasp from some of the rest of the family.

"Young lady!" One of the ladies exclaimed.

"Somehow I don't think you're the best judge of love and commitment." Rose spat.

Ron looked like he was about to burst. "He's not good enough for you!"

"Dammit dad! I can make my own choices about whose good enough for me!"

"No you can't!"

"I'm sixteen!"

"I don't give a toad's wart how old you are!"

"Why can't you just be happy for me?"

"Because he's a damn Malfoy!" Her father shouted, and the whole room suddenly became completely silent.

"And you're a damn Weasley!" She whipped around and grabbed Scorpius's hand, practically dragging him towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Her dad yelled.

"Out!" She screeched, "Come find me when you get over your prejudice and get your head out of your…"

The door slamming blocked out her final word.

"Rose," Scorpius gently grabbed her shoulders to stop her from walking. "Where are we actually going?"

"Our makeshift quidditch field." She mumbled.

The two of them walked through the trees until they came to a large clearing in the middle of the small grove.

Rose just stopped and stood there, not saying a word.

"Rose," He whispered, taking her into his arms as she began to cry. "Ssh, ssh… It's okay."

He sat down on the ground and pulled her onto his lap as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"I g-guess a p-part of me h-hoped he would u-understand… That f-for once he w-would accept something I d-did." She sobbed.

"He does love you Rose," He whispered and tried to make a joke. "It's me he doesn't like."

"If he really loved me he would accept my choices." She said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "And not have a stupid prejudice against my boyfriend's entire family for something that happened over twenty years ago."

Scorpius had nothing to say to that.

They sat there in silence until the sun started to set. Neither of them made a move to leave and they just enjoyed each other's company.

"I love the stars." Rose whispered as darkness fell. "They're just so magical."

"Not as magical as you," He teased. The two of them lay back on the grass, just enjoying the presence of the other person. For a while, the world around them seemed nonexistent. It was just Rose and Scorpius.

However, before very long the strife of that day took its toll on them and they fell into a deep sleep.

**AN: **Once again, I apologize for how long this has taken. I wanted to do a really good job of this chapter, and with all the activities I've been involved in I've only had a few precious moments to write. Thanks to everyone who sticks with me through this story! Please review


	15. Year 6 Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas

Rose awoke early the next morning, just as the early morning sunlight began to stream in through the trees. Judging by the position of the sun, she guessed it was about 7:00. Even with everything that had happened yesterday, she was still unbelievably happy.

Scorpius' arms were still wrapped around her just like they were when they fell asleep, and she felt his warmth against her back. Even though the ground was hard, she had slept peacefully just knowing he was with her.

"Morning beautiful," She heard Scorpius mumble as she turned to look into his eyes.

"Good morning handsome." Rose smiled and gave Scorpius a quick kiss on the lips.

"How are you doing?" He questioned seriously, obviously recalling the drama from the previous day.

"I'm fine," Rose answered with a half-hearted smile. "My dad is going to kill us for running off though."

"Yeah… I kind of figured." He smiled nervously, running his hand through his messed up blonde hair. Suddenly she realized that he wasn't wearing the jacket he had on the night before.

"Where's your jacket?" She wondered out loud.

"You looked cold." He smiled as his gaze travelled to her legs. She looked down and saw that his jacket covered her legs that were still bare because of the dress she had worn.

"Oh," she blushed. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," He gave her a tender, lingering kiss.

"We probably should head back," Rose said reluctantly after a few minutes. "With any luck we can get back before anyone wakes up… Then they'll think we came back late."

"Okay," Scorpius gave her one more, quick kiss before they stood up.

Rose attempted to brush the grass off herself once she got to her feet. After a minute of picking grass blade-by-blade off of the green wool dress, she gave up and turned to Scorpius.

"Ready?" She questioned.

"Absolutely," He smiled. With that, Rose took his hand and they began to walk back into the house.

They walked in silence the entire way to the house, simply content to be with each other. When they got there only a few minutes later, Rose motioned Scorpius to the kitchen door. She released his hand and opened the door slowly, peaking inside.

Silence.

She reached back and gripped Scorpius's hand again, leading him into the house. They tip-toed through into the living room…

Only to be met by every male in the Weasley and Potter family.

"Hi guys, fancy meeting you here!" Rose said as an attempt at light-heartedness.

"Where were you two?" Teddy spoke up first, "Your dads were both worried sick."

Rose felt a twinge of guilt in her stomach; she hadn't meant to worry Draco and everyone else too.

"The quidditch pitch," Rose sighed, "We weren't planning on staying out all night, but we fell asleep."

"I'm really sorry," Scorpius said seriously, looking every man in the eyes. "We really didn't mean to cause any worry."

"I just couldn't take it," Rose pleaded, "And I wanted to keep myself from doing or saying something stupid."

"Sorry to break it to you Rose," George spoke up from where he was standing against the wall, "But I'm pretty sure you already crossed that bridge."

"You maybe should just apologize… I think you crossed a line mentioning the battle. " Percy said quietly. A look of sorrow crossed over George's face, but it quickly vanished.

Rose's cheeks flushed with anger. "I'll apologize when he does," she said as calmly as she could.

"But Rose…" Percy began to protest.

"I would say that is perfectly fair." Bill cut in, "Ron has some stuff to own up to as well. Percy, you can't blame this entire thing on Rose; she didn't do anything wrong until Ron went off. "

"Hey," Percy piped up again, "Ron was just being an overprotective dad… It's completely natural!"

"He still took it a little far…" Charlie muttered.

"You don't have children Charlie, you certainly can't talk!" Percy exclaimed, causing the room to erupt into hushed arguments between everyone.

"Hey!" Harry finally yelled, "For goodness sake, be quiet… Draco and Scorpius haven't even got to talk yet."

Everyone quieted and turned to look at Draco.

"Um," Draco cleared his throat, "I trust in Rose's judgement when dealing with this situation… And I am extremely happy my son found someone as wonderful as her to be with him."

The room was silent, and Rose nearly felt her eyes tear up at Draco's sentiment. Without hesitation she walked over to him, looked him in the eyes and gave him a hug. She felt him stiffen for an instant and then hesitantly pat her on the back.

"Thank you Draco," She said quietly.

"No Rose, thank you."

"By the way..." Scorpius smiled tentatively as he looked around at everyone standing there tensely, "Happy Christmas everyone."

There seemed to be some sort of unspoken agreement between everyone not to argue at breakfast that morning. For the most part everyone was pretty chipper, but Ron literally sat there stabbing his sausage. You could almost see smoke coming out of his ears.

Hermione rolled her eyes and kicked him under the table. After that, he seemed falsely chipper.

"So Victoire, when's the wedding?" Mrs. Weasley asked happily, ignoring Ron's sour mood.

"We're thinking summer… Hopefully near the end of July. Then mom's family can come from France." She answered happily, a huge smile on her beautiful face.

"Originally she said next autumn, but I don't think I could wait that long to marry someone so amazing." Teddy smiled, looking into Victoire's eyes. She giggled like a little school girl and Rose couldn't help but laugh.

For the time being, everyone was going amazingly.

"Oh!" Astoria said after a moment. "We brought presents for everyone!"

"How kind dear, but you didn't have to!" Mrs. Weasley stated as Astoria ran out of the room.

"Considering how much everyone has done for us, we figured it would be fitting." Draco smiled.

"Well if everyone's finished, let's go into the sitting room then, shall we?" Mr. Weasley smiled as the whole lot of them crowded into the small sitting room.

As soon as everyone was sitting Astoria sent their gifts to them with a wave of her wand. Amazingly, she hadn't forgotten anyone.

Rose paused for a moment with everyone else, waiting for the say-so to open them.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Astoria exclaimed as Draco chuckled. "Open them!"

A frantic ripping of paper began and everyone opened the small, velvet boxes in front of them. Inside were exquisitely woven book marks with their names on them.

"These are beautiful Astoria! Thank you!" Rose was the first to exclaim, followed by exclamations of "Thank you's."

"No trouble at all," she started, "Just a little gift from the Malfoys to you."

After that all Hell broke loose as everyone began frantically grabbing their presents out from under the tree. The room was extremely noisy with the sounds of ripping paper and the loud calls of "Thank you!" from all different corners of the room.

After everything was over and done, Rose had received an absolutely beautiful, silver strapless dress from Teddy and Victoire; A new spell book and cauldron from Percy and Audrey; a light blue, French jacket from Bill and Fleur; A new broomstick from her parents; A Weasley's Wizard Wheezes joke kit from George and Angelina; And a pair of silver high-heels from Harry and Ginny.

And, just like every single year, everyone received a large, knitted sweater with their first initial from Molly and Arthur. Surprisingly, she even had the time to make Scorpius one, and Rose smiled at everyone's acceptance of him.

That is, everyone except her dad.

She knew it would take him time to get over it, but him scowling at them every chance he got was getting old.

"Thanks for the sweater grandma!" Rose smiled and everyone else chimed in with thank-you's.

After a moment everyone dispersed into the garden; the younger children to play with their toys, the adults to sit and chat about the children and the teenagers to sit and just hang out.

"Rose," Rose heard Scorpius whisper behind her ear and she turned around and smiled. "Can I give you my gift now? I wasn't sure if you wanted me to give it to you in front of your dad."

"Sure!" Rose said, and Scorpius led her over to a nearby tree.

"Here," he blushed and passed her a small, green wrapped box.

"And here's yours," Rose smiled and passed him a similarly wrapped box.

"Who's going to open theirs first?" He questioned with a smile.

"Together?" Rose said, and they both pulled the ribbons off their boxes. As Rose carefully pulled off the lid, she couldn't help but gasp.

An absolutely exquisite Slytherin pendant sat on a bed of rich, black velvet. It had a thick, but still delicate chain, with an intricately carved snake on the thick silver pendant, with a few gold embellishments on it. She turned it over, and there was a simple saying engraved in the back:

_"Love is stronger than any magic."_

Rose started to giggle as she looked at him putting on her gift.

She had gotten him an intricately embellished Slytherin wristband with an almost identical pendant on it. He smiled when he saw what she had engraved on the back:

_"Love can overcome anything."_

"We match," he smiled and leaned down to give her a quick, but lingering kiss.

"Help me put mine on." Rose said, passing him the pendant and pulling her hair over her shoulder. "It's beautiful." She whispered as he closed the clasp.

"I'm glad you like it," he whispered right next to her ear. "This wrist band is pretty amazing too." He placed a gently kiss on her cheek.

"Great minds think alike." Rose giggled.

She couldn't stop smiling as the two of them walked over to where the rest of her cousins were standing.

"Ugh," Dominique moaned as she started plucking the heads off dandelions. "Enough with the mushy-gushy couples crap please!"

Everyone else laughed.

"Oh, you two have matching jewellery now… I'm sure Uncle Ron will love that!" Lily rolled her eyes. Rose smiled to herself; that kid was going to grow up to be quite the feisty teenager.

"Whoa there," Scorpius exclaimed suddenly, putting his hands in the air in a stop motion. "Malfoys do not wear jewellery, we wear male accessories!"

"Nice try Scorpius!" Draco called from where the rest of the adults were sitting, "But once you have a girlfriend, you do actually wear jewellery!"

The whole garden started laughing again, Ron hesitantly laughing with them. Maybe, it was going to be a happy Christmas after all.

Shortly before dinner, the Malfoys prepared to leave in order to allow the Weasleys and Potters to have a family dinner.

"Thank you all for your hospitality; we will forever be grateful." Draco smiled.

"If there's ever anything our family can do for you, you know where to find us!" Astoria exclaimed, giving every member of the Weasley family a hug.

"Yeah, thanks." Scorpius smiled and looked at everyone, but his gaze lingered on Rose.

"How about I walk you guys out?" Rose said.

"I'll come as well; I have some security measures to be discussed." Harry said, leading Rose and the rest of the Malfoys out the door.

"Draco and Astoria, can I talk to you for a moment?" Harry said, leading them off to the side of the garden.

"Happy Christmas Rose," Scorpius said as he looked straight into her eyes, taking her hands in his.

"Happy Christmas Scorpius." Rose whispered, leaning in and giving him a deep kiss.

"Stay safe," Scorpius whispered against her lips. "I don't like having you out of my sight with everything going on."

"I'll be fine…"

"Rose," Scorpius said seriously, pulling back to look into her eyes. "I'm honestly scared to death that something will happen to you. Promise me that you'll do everything you can to stay safe."

"I promise," Rose whispered, "If you promise me the same thing. You were his original target Scorpius; don't forget that."

"I Promise."

Rose kissed him again, and then looked deep into his eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too."

They just stood there, lost in each other's eyes for what seemed like forever.

"Scorpius!" Draco suddenly called out, breaking them out of their trance. "Time to go!"

"I love you," He whispered as he gave her one more, quick kiss.

"I love you too," She said as he walked away.

Rose couldn't help but smile to herself as she went back inside the house. When she was with Scorpius, it was like there was no one else in the world but the two of them.

In fact, she got so wrapped up in herself that she didn't even notice a pair of dark eyes watching her as she returned to the supposed safety of the Burrow.

The man smiled deviously as the girl began chatting to her family about trivial things; not even remembering the promise she had made to the Malfoy boy only minutes ago.

_Young Scorpius was a smart boy in making her make that promise, even though it wouldn't do her a lot of good in the end_. The man thought,

_ There was a storm coming, and nowhere was going to be safe._

**AN: **I am so sorry this chapter took so long! This chapter gave me some grief to write in the beginning. Fortunately, I am done school Thursday, so I should be able to update much quicker after that!

Please review!


	16. Year 6 Confessions

**AN: I apologise immensely for how long this has taken, but I have to say that I think this chapter is well-worth the wait It is honestly probably one of my favourites so far! Plus, the longest chapter yet! Not only do you get some more Weasley-Family-Dynamic, but I also reintroduce Emily and the mysterious TF from chapter 10. I'm sorry it's taken so long to get around to her, but I had to deal with Rose and Scorpius more first. Anyways… Read, review and enjoy!**

**Confessions**

Dinner went by quickly, and after Scorpius left Rose's dad seemed to calm down a little bit. However, that could have just been a result of Mrs. Weasley's outstanding cooking.

Unfortunately, the Burrow was too small to allow a multiple-night stay, so Rose and her family flooed home after dinner to sleep in their own beds.

"Bye Victoire," Rose said as she gave her a hug, after saying goodbye to everyone else. "You and Teddy have to write me about the wedding… If there's anything I can do, just let me know!"

"Absolutely," Victoire smiled, "Teddy and I have actually agreed to let you be our little planning assistant if you would like to."

"Of course I would!" Rose beamed at Victoire, then at Teddy. "Thanks."

"We'll write you with anything we need you to do." She smiled as Ron walked over.

"Time to leave Rose," He smiled, and led her over to the fireplace.

Without hesitation she grabbed a handful of floo powder and stepped into the fireplace. "The household of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger!" She yelled and was immediately engulfed in green flames.

Rose sat by herself on the living room sofa, reading her mother's favourite book: _Hogwarts, A History_. The version had been newly updated about the Battle of Hogwarts by her mother herself, who had written several articles for various newspapers and magazines. In fact, she had recently finished a book about her experiences in the battle.

Her mother and father came and sat down on the other sofa across from her.

"Reading that again?" Her mother smiled, "What is this, the tenth time?"

"Eleventh actually," Rose smiled, closing the book and setting it down on the small side-table. "I like reading about you, dad and Uncle Harry… Nothing interesting ever happens to me."

"That depends on your definition of interesting," Ron mumbled, Hermione smacking him in the arm with an irritated look on her face.

"We just want to talk to you sweetheart." Her mother smiled, "Well, actually, your father wants to talk to you."

"So Rose…" He started. "How long have you been going out with Scorpius?" He took a big swig of coffee out of the mug he brought.

Rose sighed. Here came the interrogation. "Since shortly before the article got published about Lucius."

He did a spit-take, spitting his mouthful of coffee onto the floor. "That long?"

"Yes," Rose shrugged. Hermione sighed and waved her wand, the coffee disappearing.

"Okay," Ron took a deep breath, managing to keep his temper under control. "I just have a couple more questions."

He pulled out a notepad and a pen.

"Oh boy," Rose muttered.

"Favourite colour?" He questioned immediately.

"Why do you care?" She asked.

"What is his favourite colour?" He asked again.

"Fine, I'll play along…." She sighed. "Green."

"Favourite food?"

"French cuisine."

"Expensive taste," He muttered, scribbling something down on his stupid notepad.

"Wait a minute…" Rose interjected. He was not going to twist all this against Scorpius.

"Number of previous girlfriends?"

Rose blushed. "Just two, I guess,"

"Has he ever been married and/or engaged?"

"Oh my goodness," Rose exclaimed. "Dad, we're sixteen… He has not been engaged or married!"

"Is he a morning person or night person?"

"Night," Rose answered almost immediately, then blushed when he mom and dad both looked up at her… Obviously her answer had implied the wrong thing.

Ron shook his head, wrote something down and went back to his questions. "Any previous criminal record?"

"No," Rose sighed, putting her face in her hands. "You can get Harry to look that one up at the ministry dad… Can I go now?"

"Three more," Her father said. "Is he musical in any way?"

"He can sing, and I think he taught himself how to play a muggle guitar, but I've never heard him play it." Rose smiled to herself, she was going to have to ask about the guitar next time she visited the manor.

"And lastly, what's the weirdest Halloween costume he's ever worn?"

Rose thought for a minute. The whole group of them had worn some pretty crazy muggle Halloween costumes….

"Oh! I know!" She exclaimed suddenly. "Back in fourth year all of us went as these creatures from a muggle movie called 'Avatars.' It involved these weird blue striped suits, wigs and giant tails."

Her parents both looked at her quizzically.

"Last one," Rose sighed.

"Is he a virgin?" Ron asked seriously, and Hermione tried not to laugh at the look on Rose's face.

"Yes," Rose blushed, "But we don't make a habit of discussing his previous sex life, and we sure as Hell haven't gone that far."

"I was just asking." Ron smiled deviously.

"You could just mind your own business." She mumbled, "Now are we done with this interrogation?"

"For now," Her dad said, closing his notepad.

"You know," Rose started, sarcasm thick in her voice. "If you want to find out more about Scorpius, you could just, you know, ask him; but then again, you'd have to stop glaring at him to do that."

"I don't need to talk to him to know that he's no good for you." Her dad stated simply, his mouth pressed into a hard line.

"I don't care what you think about him," Rose said, attempting to stay calm. "He makes me happy, and that's all that matters. All I ask is that you try to open your mind to Scorpius and rid yourself of ridiculous prejudices… You don't see Draco sitting and glaring at me."

"So you two are on a first-name-basis now?" He glared.

"Yes, yes we are." Rose said simply, and turned to walk upstairs, letting her dad fume. She wasn't dealing with this right now.

As she started to get ready for bed, she remembered she still had on her Slytherin pendant from Scorpius. Gently undoing the clasp, she turned it over to read the engraving again.

_Love is stronger than any magic._

In that one moment she was nearly overwhelmed by the truth she felt in those words. Screw Lucius, screw her dad, and screw anyone who was against them; they truly could overcome anything.

She did the clasp back up around her neck, not bearing to part with it. As she curled up in her bed and closed her eyes, the pendant lay on top of her heart. Smiling, sleep quickly overcame her.

Emily hustled through Diagon Alley, her cloak pulled over her head in order to shadow her face. Her black snow boots, black skinny jeans, and black knit top made it easy for the small girl to blend into the shadows. Plus, the alley was almost deserted this late at night, so there was nobody even there to notice her slipping through the shadows into Knockturn Alley.

It was hard to believe that she had actually agreed to meet TF here, after doing nothing but deny or ignore him for months now. Unfortunately, after reading his last letter, she realized she couldn't just keep brushing him off.

She needed to end it.

There were several dark shops lining the shady street, so Emily pulled out his letter one more time to check the address:

_E,_

_ Have you ever heard the muggle saying, "Stuck between a rock and a hard place?" Well, I'm stuck E. They've roped me in so far I have no way out. I'm probably as good as dead now._

_ I know you don't want to join our cause, and I'm sure as Hell done asking, but could you please meet me one last time? After everything I've done, I understand if you don't want to, but this could be the last time you'll ever see me. _

_ If you choose to come, be at 87 Knockturn Alley at midnight. I'll be at the counter._

_ Please. I love you. _

_ TF_

Emily re-folded the note and stuffed it in her pocket, following the numbered shops to the very end of the alley.

She did a double take when she saw where she was.

It was a club, or at least a club-like place; loud music blared from inside, and a drunken couple was making out on the street in front of it.

Emily cringed and briefly considered turning around, but she shoved that thought aside. Taking a deep breath, she walked past the drunk couple and pushed open the creaky door delving into the bustling people inside.

There were so many people crammed into the dance floor she practically had to grind everyone just to get through. Eventually she made it to the bar counter, and saw _him_ sitting there, just staring at her.

"Troy Fjodor," She whispered, not moving from where she stood, frozen in shock.

He looked so _awful._

His thick, lush brown hair was matted and greasy, all of its previous shine gone. A thick scraggly beard sat on his normally clean shaven face, hinting that he hadn't had access to a lot of personal hygiene products. His usually muscular arms and abdomen were bone thin, plus the skin looked was extremely pale compared to his usually tan physique.

But the most upsetting thing was his beautiful, blue eyes: all the light was gone from them. His usually smiling eyes looked so sad that it broke Emily's heart all over again just looking into them. Were those even the same eyes that had once looked into hers? Promising the world?

A tear began to slide down her cheek as he took a step towards her.

"Troy," She whispered, "What have you done to yourself?"

"Em," He breathed, closing the gap between them. "You came."

"Of course I did," She cried, trying desperately to wipe the tears from her eyes as they began to fall down harder… She didn't come here to pity him or cry, but she couldn't help it when she saw him like this. "But I shouldn't have! What have they done to you?"

"The deatheaters don't have a great benefit package," He smiled, but it was an empty smile, not reaching his eyes. She began to cry harder.

"Shhhh, don't cry," He soothed, leading her over and sitting her down on a bar stool as he wrapped his arms around her.

She quickly shrugged out of his arms. "Don't touch me Troy," She said quietly, "I didn't come back here to come crawling back to you."

"Em," He said, backing away. "It was out of my control! Hurting you was the stupidest thing I've ever done! But don't worry; it'll all be okay…"

"Damn it Troy, it will not be okay!" She yelled in frustration, jumping off the stool. Six months of pain came pouring out in one moment. "This is not 'out of your control' … This is your fault! YOU ran away! YOU joined the bloody deatheaters! YOU decided to leave me, even though I BEGGED you to stay!"

"I had no choice!" He yelled back animatedly, "My family roped me into this! Do you know what it's like to have that much pressure on you? Do you Em? Do you know what it's like to feel worthless every day, and to feel like there's no way out?"

"You did have a choice!" Emily screeched. People gradually stopped dancing to watch the emerging drama. "You could choose them, or you could choose me! And you chose them!"

Emily began to cry violently, unable to hold back the waterfall of tears.

"Damn it!" She cried, shoving her hands into her eyes to try to stop the tears; she didn't want to waste one tear on him! "I loved you Troy… I loved you! And you left me!"

"I didn't want to!" He yelled.

"But you did!" She stepped close to him so she was right in his face. "And then you had to keep writing all those stupid notes telling me you still cared… Playing with my emotions! All I wanted was to move on… And I kept telling you no."

Silence had spread across the entire dance floor; everyone's eyes on the two of them.

"I just wanted to be with you," Troy whispered. "The power of the death eaters is enticing, even now… Do you know what's it's like to feel that kind of control?"

The entire room seemed to lean in, waiting for Emily's response.

"Power," She whispered, hardly able to believe what she had just heard. "You're telling me all of this, the emotional TURMOIL you put me through, was so you could take part in a power struggle?"

"Em, you know that's not what I meant…" He struggled to explain.

"Yes it is." She said, struggling to keep her tone neutral. "I tried to ignore it while we were together, but that's what it's always been about, isn't it? Power. Control. Feeling important."

"Em…" He tried again, but was immediately cut off.

"I'm done Troy." She stated simply, trying to mask how much her heart was breaking. "I only came here to get closure, and I have it. You haven't changed one bit, and I'm not going to spend the best years of my life pining over someone who doesn't care. Best of luck with the deatheaters. "

She reached into the inside pocket of her cloak and pulled out a simple pewter necklace with an onyx stone in it.

"I'm out," She tossed at his feet, and he just stood there in shock.

"Wait!" He cried, as people parted for her to get out the door.

"No!" She yelled, turning around to face him one last time. " I've waited six damn months for you! I gave you a million chances Troy… You've run out now. Don't write me, don't follow me, and don't even dream of trying to talk to me."

And she turned around and walked out the door, starting to run down the alley.

Only once she reached the safety and comfort of Diagon Alley did she allow the rest of the tears to start pouring down.

Crying uncontrollably, she pressed her back against the wall, sinking down until she sat on the snowy ground.

That was harder than she thought it would be; she sure as Hell hadn't thought he'd be begging to take her back!

"Damn you Troy," she sobbed, struggling to pull herself back together.

"Emily?" She heard a voice call from down the alley. "Is that you?"

Wiping the tears away, she turned to see who was calling her.

"James?" She whispered, struggling to frantically get off up the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"Just visiting Uncle George's joke shop," he said awkwardly putting his hands in his pockets. Then he looked her straight in the eyes and spoke softly. "What's wrong?"

"It's a long story," Emily sniffed, trying to smile.

"I like long stories," He smiled, "Would you like to come into the shop and tell me? My aunt and uncle just left so there won't be anyone there."

"Why do you care?" she questioned hesitantly, wary to accept his offer.

"I honestly don't know," He laughed, "But if you want to talk I'm here."

Before Emily knew it, she was with James in the joke shop, relaying every detail of her relationship with Troy.

"We started dating over the summer before last; I was going into fifth year, and he was going into seventh year." She started, "I met him in Diagon Alley, and he was so sweet! He swept me off my feet completely, and by the time we went off to Hogwarts that September I was head over heels."

"I know your entire house probably thinks I'm a complete whore, but he was actually the first real relationship, and first kiss, I ever had. We decided before we left that we would keep our relationship a secret at school because of the age difference."

"At least that's what he told me," she sighed, "So we saw each other secretly until Christmas, and before Christmas I was completely in love with him. He gave me this beautiful necklace we had found in a muggle shop over the summer; it has a pewter chain with this exquisite onyx stone in the middle of a pendant."

"That was the last wonderful moment we had before his true colours began to show."

"He just started becoming… darker. He was wearing darker clothes, he was hanging around with a new group of Slytherins that I wouldn't even talk to, and he became completely infatuated with power and control."

"I loved him so much that I just brushed it off to the side. I just kept telling myself that people change, and that all change wasn't necessarily a bad thing; that he was still the same, sweet guy I had fallen in love with."

"Then came his graduation… his family wasn't there, but he didn't even seem to be bothered by it. It was simple, and afterwards he took me to the Forbidden Forest and we snogged for a while."

Emily blushed a little at this, but James didn't seem bothered, so she kept plowing on.

"I ended up accidentally pulling up his sleeve, and saw his dark mark. A dark mark! The guy I loved had joined the deatheaters, and didn't feel the need to consult his girlfriend of almost a year… His girlfriend whom he said he loved… His girlfriend who gave so much to him…"

Emily started to cry again, but kept talking. James was the first person she had told all this.

"I told him he had to choose me or them… I was in absolute agony! He told me he loved me, and had some thinking to do. So I let him go, filled with hope that he would somehow manage to leave all this behind."

"The next day he was gone," she sobbed, "With nothing but a note left on my pillow saying he had joined the deatheaters, and he was sorry."

Her tears turned to tears of frustration. "Can you believe that? He broke my heart into a million pieces, and all he had to say was sorry!"

"I wanted a clean break," she cried, "But he couldn't even give me that! He wrote me all year: telling me he still loved me, asking how I was, even begging me to join him with the deatheaters."

Turning to look James straight in the eyes, she whispered softly. "That's where I was before you found me. He sent me a letter saying to meet him, and I went to say goodbye."

Her voice broke on the last word and she began to sob again, burying her face in her arms. Suddenly, she felt James's strong arms around her and she leaned into him.

"That's the short story of my Hell-hole of a life."

"I'm so sorry Emily," He whispered, gently tilting her chin up so her red, puffy eyes met his. "You deserve someone who gives you a lot more respect than that guy ever did. You are beautiful, smart, funny and compassionate; any guy would have to be a complete ass to choose deatheaters over you."

"Thank you," She whispered, and he suddenly leaned down, his lips crashing over hers.

It was like a thousand fireworks were going off around them. All of a sudden, the rest of the world disappeared. For the first time in a year, Emily felt true happiness begin to bubble inside of her heart.

"Even better than the first time," Emily whispered, smiling up into James's brilliant green eyes.

"I keep thinking about when I last kissed you…" He started.

"What about Bethany?" Emily said suddenly, her gaze turning accusatory.

"I was planning on breaking up with her tomorrow." He smiled, leaning down to kiss her again, but Emily backed away.

"No," She said, standing up and wiping some of the dust off her clothes from sitting on the floor. When she saw the hurt look in her eyes, she smiled softly and corrected herself.

"I mean not right now," She started again. "Firstly, I honestly need some time to get my feelings straight before I even think about another relationship. Secondly, I'm not going to kiss you again while you are still technically dating another girl, no matter what your intentions. Lastly, you have some owning up to do before I would even consider going out with you."

"I understand," He nodded solemnly, "Take all the time you need."

"Bye," She whispered as she headed out the door.

"Goodbye Em," He murmured as the door swept closed behind her.

As she walked through the snow, a million thoughts were flitting through her mind, all vying for attention. Sighing dramatically, she started making her way into the Leaky Cauldron to use their fireplace connected to the floo network.

She had a lot to tell Rose.


	17. Author's Note

**Author's Note**

Hey everyone! I know it has literally been forever since I updated, and I'm so sorry! Unfortunately, I have a small problem… I'm having huge writer's block with this story right now (something I'm sure my fellow authors can relate to)! I want to write so badly, but I just can't seem to get inspired enough to write it

Sooooo…

I have a favour to ask all of you! I need your help to get over this writers block… Pretty, pretty please either send me a private message, or review, with either something encouraging, ideas or even just a critique on the story so far. If this isn't your style, send me a quote or a song that inspires you when you write; anything would be appreciated!

Anyone who helps me out will receive a special shout out in the next chapter, and the one person who helps me the most will get to name a new character I'm thinking of (I don't know if you guys really care, but rewards and prizes are always great!)

So please help me out! Anything you do will be very much appreciated!

Thanks!


	18. Chapter 17 Christmas Comes to an End

Chapter 17 **Christmas Comes to an End**

Rose awoke to the sound of someone knocking the next morning.

"Come in," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes and hesitantly sitting up.

"Someone's here for you honey," her mom stepped into the room, already dressed and ready to go to work.

"Who?"

"Emily," She answered, "Your father is already gone, and I'm leaving or work as well. Hugo is over at Albus's house."

"Okay," Rose sighed and climbed out of bed, walking clumsily downstairs to find Emily sitting at their dining room table.

"Morning!" Emily said cheerfully.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Rose muttered as she poured herself a bowl of cereal. She sat down at the table and began to eat.

"Now are you going to tell me why you're here so early?" Rose mumbled with her mouth full.

"Oh, Rose," Emily buried her face in her hands, and began to cry.

"Em!" Rose exclaimed, running over to put her arms around her crying friend. "What's wrong?"

"It's a long story…" Emily sobbed, "But I couldn't keep it from you anymore!"

"Tell me everything."

"And then I came over here and found you." Emily finished, drying her eyes with the tissue Rose had given her.

"Oh Emily," Rose sighed, pulling her friend in for another hug. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," Emily smiled, "It's all over and done now."

_Not all of it…_

A voice nagged at Emily's mind… she had omitted one detail when talking to Rose; everything that had happened with James.

_She doesn't need to know yet, _she argued internally, _it's not like we're going out or anything._

"I know just what we need," Rose stood up abruptly, hurrying upstairs to grab her purse.

"What are you doing?" Emily yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"Getting my purse and getting presentable!" Rose yelled, emerging from the top of the stairs ten minutes later wearing a skirt and her favorite ankle boots.

"Come on," She grabbed Emily's arm and literally dragged her out the door.

"Where are we going?" Emily laughed as Rose pulled her onto a muggle bus stopped nearby.

"We are having a girl's day out in the muggle world." Rose said quietly, "Where no one from the entire wizarding world will find us."

The girls got out on Regent Street, and Emily looked around at the unfamiliar place. The entire street was lined with shops, the most prudent of which was a humongous toy store called "Hamleys."

"Wow!" Emily exclaimed.

"Want to go to the toy store?" Rose said teasingly, "You know you want to…"

"Let's go!" Emily laughed as they entered the bustling toy store.

"Oh my…" Emily trailed off in shock as she took in the amazing sight before her.

Strange muggle contraptions were EVERYWHERE.

Toys literally flew through the air, controlled by muggles holding weird electrical boxes on the ground. Muggle children laughed and jumped, trying in vain to catch the elusive toys.

"I've got to hand it to these muggles," Emily muttered as another muggle car nearly zoomed into her feet. "They sure do know how to make crazy contraptions… How did you find this place anyways?"

"Scorpius took me here once over the summer… I was really bummed out about Beth and everything, so he took me here to cheer me up. That's why I thought of this place once when I saw you so upset."

"I really appreciate everything you've done for me." Emily whispered, giving her friend a hug once again.

"Anytime," Rose laughed. "Now tell me Emily, have you ever been to a muggle movie theatre?"

"How do they come up with this stuff?" Emily laughed, still wearing the strange 3-D glasses as she walked out of the theatre. "A man who is part spider against a man who is part lizard? Wow!"

"They are pretty creative," Rose said thoughtfully, "I mean, the 3-D was nothing compared to a patronus or portrait, but it was still kind of neat."

"And these glasses are downright sexy," Emily smiled, making a mock model pose.

"Absolutely!"

"I don't know…" Someone said behind them. "I think I prefer girls with black hair and short skirts."

Rose whipped around to see who had made the comment, and came face to face with Michael.

"And I prefer guys without greasy hair and boney arms," Rose spat, giving him the most hateful glare she could muster.

"Don't be like that Rose," He leered, slinging his arm over her shoulder which she quickly shoved off.

"I have a boyfriend," Rose said haughtily, "You may remember him… Last time you two met he beat the crap out of you."

His gaze turned dangerous, and he took a step towards her. Rose and Emily both backed away a step.

"So you and Scorpius are together now?" he said in a frightening tone. "He may have gotten the jump on me once, but it won't happen again. Plus, this is really all your fault."

"Oh really," Emily jumped in, "It's somehow her fault that you're such a creeper?"

"Yes," he said nonchalantly, feigning an interest in his finger nails. Then he looked up and stared directly at Rose. "If you didn't dress like such a slut, and hang out with such a whore…"

He never got to finish the sentence, since Rose's fist connecting with his eye cut him off.

"Damn you!" He yelled in pain and ran out of the theatre.

"Damn it," Rose muttered, shaking her hand in pain. "No one said that hurts so much."

Emily just looked at Rose in shock. "Wow," she began to smile, "You actually punched him."

"Yeah," Rose said, "And it hurts like Hell."

"We could go see Scorpius and he could kiss it better," Emily teased, but Rose agreed.

"Do you mind?"

"Of course not," Emily waved her hand, "Where's the nearest fireplace?"

"Diagon Alley isn't far from here," Rose said, and the two of them headed towards the bus.

"Scorpius?" Rose called as she exited the fireplace, Emily right behind her.

"Rose?" She heard Scorpius yell in surprise as he rounded a corner and saw her standing there. He pulled her into his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story, and I will tell you once you get something to stop the swelling in my hand." She held out her aching, slightly swollen hand.

"What did you do?!" He exclaimed, then started muttering. "I'm pretty sure mom knows a spell for that."

He grabbed her other hand and led her and Emily to where Astoria was sitting in an office writing with a long quill.

"Mom, do you have a spell to reduce pain and swelling?" He questioned tentatively, trying not to disturb her too much.

"What did you do?" She sighed, turning around to see Rose and Emily standing there. "Oh! Hello Rose, Emily."

"Hi Astoria,"

"Hi Mrs. Malfoy,"

"Rose kind of hurt her hand and was wondering if you had a spell to reduce swelling and pain." He said.

"Let me see," Astoria took her hand, pulled out her wand and began muttering spells under her breath. Immediately Rose's hand went back to its normal size and the small pain receded out of her knuckles.

"So what happened?" Scorpius asked.

"Well," Rose began, relaying the entire story to Astoria, Scorpius and even Draco after a few minutes in.

"And so I punched him in the face, since I couldn't exactly hex him in the middle of a muggle theatre… Who knew that punching someone's eye hurt that much?"

Scorpius chuckled a little bit, but it was a humourless sound. "I'm going to hex that son of a…" He cut himself off when he saw his mother glaring at him. "…Warlock into oblivion."

"What would you like us to do Rose?" Astoria asked, concern plain in her face.

"Nothing," Rose sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "I honestly just want to forget about it."

"Okay," Draco nodded understandingly, and Rose guessed that someone with a past like him would be good a forgetting. "But you have to promise to tell us if anything else happens."

"I promise," Rose whispered, and Emily patted her back consolingly.

"Fine," Scorpius muttered, along with some other things too quiet for his mom to hear. "But if he ever says something like that again, to you or Emily…"

"I know," Rose whispered, resting her hand on his. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment; for a moment they forgot everyone else was there.

Emily coughed lightly, snapping them out of their trance. Rose blushed at the comical looks Draco and Astoria were giving them, but they just started to laugh, Rose and Scorpius following suit.

"Well thank you Draco and Astoria, and sorry to barge in like this." Rose said after the laughter subsided, standing up. "But I really should go, my dad is probably having a fit already."

"Yeah, thanks," Emily chimed in.

"I'll walk you guys to the fire place." Scorpius said quickly, standing up and walking with them to the door.

As the approached the fireplace, Emily turned to them, a grin on her face. "I'm just going to head home… See ya!" She grabbed a handful of floo powder and disappeared into green flames.

Rose turned slowly to Scorpius, looking into his beautiful green eyes. He smiled at her and pulled her close without breaking eye contact.

"I love you," He murmured, pressing a sweet kiss to her lips.

"I love you too," She whispered, and he pulled her in tighter.

"See you soon," He said as she stepped into the fireplace.

"Goodnight," She said, and after yelling her home she was engulfed in green flames.

Scorpius was sitting in the large sitting room with his father, playing a game of Wizard's Chess when a loud knock sounded at the door.

He looked expectantly at his dad. "Are you or mum expecting anyone?" He questioned.

"Not that I know of," He answered, walking to the door, Scorpius close behind.

Draco cautiously swung the door open, and then just stood there surprise etched into his usually calm features.

"Weasley?" He said in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to speak to your son, Malfoy." He answered calmly, looking at Scorpius. Scorpius felt nervousness swirling in his stomach.

"Okay," Draco said, opening the door to allow Ron into the house. "But if you're not going to be civil you aren't welcome."

"Understood," Ron nodded, and looked expectantly at Scorpius.

"We can sit in the dining room." Scorpius said quickly, leading Ron towards the large dining room.

"I'll be in the sitting room!" His father called out behind them, and Scorpius shut the door.

Ron took a seat on one end of the table, and Scorpius sat opposite of him. "So… What would you like to talk about Mr. Weasley?"

"You and my daughter are fairly serious?" He said, the statement sounding more like a question.

"Yes sir," Scorpius affirmed, "I know you don't like to hear this, but I really do love Rose."

"So you've said," Ron muttered, "Well, I just wanted to let you know that I don't condone this relationship… You aren't good enough for my Rose."

"I think you've made that very clear sir." Scorpius said, struggling to keep sarcasm from his voice.

"However," Ron continued as if he hadn't heard him. "I will tolerate you, since my daughter obviously loves you too."

Scorpius sat there in shock, not saying a word. Ron was saying he would tolerate him? It was like him saying he wanted him as a freaking son in law!

"That's great sir," He said, realizing that Ron was waiting for a response. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate it…"

Ron waved his hand in dismissal. "That's all I wanted to say." He stated, getting up and walking towards the door. "Good night Scorpius,"

And with that, he was gone.

Scorpius sat there for a minute, still slightly shocked at Ron's sudden acceptance of him. However, after a minute he smiled. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.

Rose stood on Platform 9 ¾, looking eagerly for Scorpius or Emily. She hadn't been able to see either of them since they left Scorpius's house five days ago.

She saw Emily's platinum blonde hair and waved to her, quickly turning to her family to say goodbye.

"Good bye mom and dad," She gave them both quick hugs.

"Bye sweetie!" Her mom called.

"Bye Rose! See you in June!" Her dad called, and Rose pushed her luggage cart over to where Emily was waiting.

"Hi!" Rose exclaimed, giving Emily a quick hug. "Long time no see!"

"Hey!" Emily said. Kristin walked over to them, her brown owl perched precariously on the top of the luggage cart.

"Hey guys," She said enthusiastically. "Where are Scorpius and Jace?"

Just as she said that, Rose felt strong arms wrap around her from behind. "Hello beautfiful," Scorpius whispered in her ears.

"Hey handsome," Rose turned around and planted a quick kiss on his lips.

Jace rolled his eyes. He and Scorpius had started hanging out last year, and ever since had been best friends.

Rose saw a large portion of Platform 9 ¾ staring at them in shock… She had forgotten that no one at Hogwarts except Emily and Jace and Kristin (Who had obviously been filled in at some point) actually knew they were a couple.

After a moment the four of them piled into a compartment, joined by a couple other Slytherins named Seth and Rachel Oliver.

They talked about Christmas adventures as the train pulled out of the station. Rose looked at Scorpius, both of them smiling ear-to-ear. For once it seemed things were going to be alright.

**AN: **YAY! YAY! YAY! I finished another chapter! First of all, thank you to everyone who helped me with a review… It meant the world to me! I'm so sorry this chapter took so long, but hopefully the next one won't take such a long time, especially if you keep reviewing! Your reviews seriously help me if I get writers block, so please review!

Oh, and for those of you who don't know, Hamleys is a humongous toy store on Regent Street in London… I went there two years ago with my grandparents If you're ever in London, I would suggest you check it out, it's pretty spectacular!

And here are the shout outs to everyone who helped me get this chapter up…

**The-Writing-Vampire: **Thanks for the compliments about the characters and plot I have more planned with Draco in upcoming chapters… You'll have to keep reading to see! I'm hoping to do something with him in either the next chapter or the chapter after that.

**OnceASlytherinAlwaysASlyther in (aka Sarah): **Thanks for the great ideas! Some of them I might use in later chapters, but I did use your idea about Ron talking to Scorpius in this one It was a great Idea, and really added a lot to the chapter for me.

**Arwin Fred: **Thanks for the compliment and advice! I'll keep that in mind

**Narniaandharrypotter4ever: **Thanks so much! I'm glad you like the writing so much, and the encouragement really helped

**SilenceIsCompliance: **Thank you so much for the ideas… I used the one about skipping the rest of Christmas break… I honestly hadn't even thought about doing it that way, but I feel it helped the story run a lot better. I'm definitely keeping the things you wrote in mind for other chapters, and I might try to post a summary within the next couple days… I'll have to see how busy I am. For now I was so excited to finish this chapter that I wanted to post it right away. Thanks so much for everything! I hope you enjoy what I have to write next!


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